Dani Miftahul Akhyar

Leiden is Lijden

2012-01-31T12:11:00.001+07:00

Senang dapat kosakata baru hari ini. Tertulis sebuah artikel di harian Kompas oleh Mas Yudi Latif. Judulnya sperti terlihat di gambar. Yang menarik adalah kalimat pertamanya "leiden is lijden" --memimpin adalah menderita, yang ternyata kutipan bijak dari H. Agus Salim, pahlawan nasional kita.

Apa yang menarik? Pertama, saya baru tahu ternyata kata Leiden itu artinya memimpin atau to lead. Sejauh ini saya tahu leiden adalah bahasa Belanda dan nama salah satu universitas tertua dan terkemuka di sana.

Kedua, kalimat itu mempunyai rima yang bagus, masing-masing kata (leiden & lijden) berakhiran dengan 'den'. Jadi terdengar puitis, dan diciptakan oleh orang Indonesia, bukan orang Belanda. Hebat betul Pak Haji Agusalim ini. Kalimat yang diucapkannya indah dan bermakna. Tidak sembarang orang bisa mencipta kata seperti itu.

Ketiga, arti kalimat itu menohok sekali. Saya mengenal sebelumnya istilah "pemimpin adalah pribadi yang dikorbankan", pertama mendengar waktu SMA. Saat tubuh lelah dan keringat tak kunjung kering mengikuti napak tilas rute Panglima Besar Jenderal Soedirman ke Pacitan, sekitar tahun 1994, terbayang betapa beban dan derita dipikul oleh sang Jenderal puluhan tahun lalu, yang seolah tak dirasakan karena besarnya tanggung jawab dan amanah terhadap negeri. Raganya terkorbankan beberapa tahun kemudian setelah ibukota lepas dari marabahaya. Cerita Bung Karno lebih miris lagi. Konon sampai meninggal beliau tidak meninggalkan warisan rumah untuk anak-anaknya. Pemimpin dunia yang lain juga banyak memberi contoh. Kesederhanaan Mahatma gandhi dan Ibu Teresa dikenal di seluruh dunia. Pun penderitaan para nabi dan rasul yang menjadi pelajaran bagi hidup manusia.

Keempat, menarik karena ironinya dengan kondisi saat ini. Seperti ditulis mas Yudi, pemimpin sekarang mana ada yang menderita? Pejabat sekarang mah enak, ongkang-ongkang kaki terima duit setoran dari bawahannya. Rakyat yang makin lama makin menderita, bahan pokok serba makin mahal, cari makan susah, nyekolahin anak mahal, keamanan pun tak 100% terjamin. Apakah bangsa ini zonder pemerintah? Nggak juga, pemerintah ada, tapi ya itu tadi, tidak merasakan penderitaan rakyat yang dipimpinnya. Sudah duduk enak jadi lupa berdiri.

Ditipu Foto

2012-01-30T15:47:00.001+07:00

Coba anda perhatikan gambar disamping. Tanpa membaca artikel/beritanya, kira-kira apa kesan anda terhadap foto tersebut? Dua orang paling berpengaruh di republik ini dengan postur dan bahasa tubuh seperti itu?

Yak, ketika saya ngetwit gambar ini, banyak yang bilang: kedua orang itu terkesan mau gelut alias berantem. Tapi itulah gambar yang dicetak di sebuah harian ibukota seminggu yang lalu. Media cetak ini emang cenderung beroposisi dengan pemerintah. Padahal, di era 5 tahun pertama SBY media ini termasuk yang pro, sehingga agak bosen waktu itu membacanya. Tidak tahu alasannya mengapa owner media cetak ini lalu berubah haluan menjadi kontra, mungkin merasa nggak kebagian kue atau bagaimana. Akhirnya ia mendirikan ormas dan belakangan menjadi parpol.

Kalau dilihat kenyataannya, agak aneh kalau RI-1 dan TNI-1 mau gelut di depan publik seperti terlihat di foto. Lha wong TNI-1 itu tunduk ke RI-1 kok, mana bisa menantang atasannya? Tapi itulah kejelian si tukang jepret, bisa saja mengambil moment langka seperti ini yang menjadi kesukaan editor koran tersebut.

Seorang anak muda bertanya sama saya, "pak, foto itu emang sengaja dipasang oleh koran itu sebagai agenda setting, kah?". Saya jawab, "kemungkinan it pasti ada, namanya juga korang yang cenderung berseberangan dengan pemerintah." So, itulah bahayanya jika media digunakan sebagai corong politik orang/kelompok tertentu. Tidak ada yang benar-benar independen dalam jurnalisme.

Nguping Obrolan Pak Dahlan

2012-01-21T09:29:00.003+07:00

Namanya orang lagi bejo alias beruntung, ada saja jalan tak terduga yang mengantarkan sampai ke tujuan. Begitulah kami bertiga, saya, Mas Dodie (paling kiri megang garpu), dan Mas Syawal. Jumat 20 Jan 12 kami berangkat sholat Jumat ke Mesjid di kompleks kementerian BUMN dengan harapan bertemu Menteri Dahlan Iskan yang biasanya melayani doorstop wartawan setelah sholat Jumat. Apa lacur, yang ditunggu-tunggu tak datang jua. Di deretan shof depan tak nampang sosok beliau.

Pupus sudah harapan. Yang paling kecewa tentu saja Mas Dodie yang ngefans bener ama Menteri yang satu ini. Mas Dodie lah yang tadi pagi BBM saya tentang jadwal acara Pak Dahlan seharian Jumat ini. Dapet dari wartawan, katanya. Setelah akhir tahun lalu sukses mencium tangan Pak Dahlan, dengan tekad membara setelah sholat Jumat, kali ini ia bertekad minta nasihat hidup. Tapi sekali lagi, yang ditunggu tak kunjung datang. Ya sudahlah, makan sate pinggir jalan saja, katanya.

Ketika keluar dari mesjid, entah mengapa seolah ada angin yang mendorong badan menuju kantin di belakang kompleks gedung kementerian ini. Mau duduk di kursi depan, tak jadi karena Mas Syawal mengajak ke dalam. Dan inilah yang namanya keberuntungan. Sosok Pak Dahlan yang dicari tiba-tiba di depan mata, sedang duduk di pojok kantin bersama staf humas beliau lahap menikmati sop daging + nasi putih (lihat foto di tengah). Serta merta Mas Dodie menghampiri dan salaman. Tak ada cium tangan, mungkin karena posisi tidak memungkinkan. Yang melihat senyum-senyum saja. Sebentar kemudian para wartawan datang untuk wawancara. Ya sudah kami makan di meja sebelah dan 'nguping' saja pembicaraan mereka. "Ini menteri cuek banget ya makan di kantin, kayaknya gak pernah ada deh menteri-menteri sebelumnya yang kesini", celoteh orang-orang di meja saya. Tak saya pedulikan, karena pembicaraan di meja utama lebih menarik, walaupun suaranya tak seberapa jelas terdengar.

Pertanyaan pertama yang saya dengar, apa kebijakan Pak Dahlan tentang BUMN-BUMN bermasalah. Jawab beliau, harus ada komitmen kuat untuk cari solusi perbaiki diri, kalau nggak mau ya tutup saja!! Simpel dan tegas, plus logis dari sisi bisnis. Saya langsung teringat kisah PT Merpati Nusantara yang mindsetnya 'diobrak-abrik' beliau beberapa waktu lalu. "Tutup saja Merpati, duitnya beliin kebun sawit dan bagikan ke semua karyawan masing-masing dapat 2 hektar", ujarnya saat itu. Pernyataan out-of-the-box yang saya kebayang bikin jantung manajemen Merpati hampir copot hehehe...

Dasar mantan Dirut PLN, saat ditanya listrik beliau gahar membahas. Defisit listrik 4000Megawatt akan segera dipenuhi begitu Pembangkit di Lontar kelar dengan kapasitas 10ribu Megawatt. Jangan khwatir katanya. Diskusi berlanjut membahas hal-hal lain. "Nggak ada yang nanya tentang Nazarudin, nih?", ujar beliau nantangin wartawan. Lalu diskusi menarik tentang kereta api yang akhir-akhir ini tambah kacau jadwal perjalanannya (terutama KRL loopline Jabodetabek). Jawab beliau sambil menghela nafas, "Jadi manajemen PT KAI sekarang sedang berupaya mengubah mindset karyawannya. Caranya adalah dengan mengirim staf level middle ke luar negeri untuk belajar manajemen teknis kereta api modern di sana. Baru-baru ini KAI mengirim 20 orang ke Valencia (Spanyol) untuk belajar. "Lho, kenapa begitu pak? Ngabisin duit itu namanya", tukas seorang wartawati cepat menyambar. "Karena KAI sudah gak ada masalah skill, karena orang kita hebat-hebat semua. Yang minus itu mindsetnya. Contoh: kita sekarang udah capek bilangin orang-orang agar jangan buang sampah sembarangan. Coba bawa ke Singapur yang bersih dimana-mana. Baru orang Indonesia sadar bahwa bersih itu indah dan enak dilihat. Nah, sadar dia karena mindsetnya sudah berubah. Mengubah mindset kadang butuh melihat contoh teladan langsung. Caranya ya kirim ke luar negeri, kalau perlu sampai ke tukang sapunya juga dikirim ke sana biar 'melek' dan berubah mindsetnya". Hmmm, benar juga...

Pukul 13:30 dan Pak Dahlan bergegas ada acara lain. Tak menyia-nyiakan sedikit kesempatan, Mas Dodie menghampiri dan minta nasihat. "Anak muda itu tidak layak diberi nasihat. Anak muda harus diberi kesempatan", jawab beliau sambil senyum dan berlalu.

@juniakhyar posted...

2012-01-19T10:50:00.001+07:00

This articles is posted by my wife yesterday. I think it's one of her best writings :)

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Moms, i salute all of you, every mom and mom-to-be in the world. For unconditional love and care you give to children. Being mom is definitely a real job. It may require all competencies mentioned in, let’s say, a CEO post vacancy, with a life long contract. Briefly, it costs you blood and tears. But it will pay you HEAVEN, mom. from likemails.com

There is no such thing as a full-time mom or part-time mom (or outsourced-mom?). Mom will always be mom, whenever, wherever. Whether she delivered naturally or under surgery. She gives breasfeeding or formulas. Mom knows the best, for children, family, and her self.

Raising angel can be a bless and a test at the same time. Every parent wants all the best things for their children, even before they are born. When mom find out that she is expecting, it will give excitement to the whole family.

Post-natal is the happiest moment after nine-month of anticipation. And mom’s life turns upside-down since then. In the early life, baby totally count its life on mom’s hand. Gentle touch, soft voice of mom are as important as nutrition from breastmilk. Those give the fundamental and stimulation for baby to grow physically and emotionally. This critical nursing stage demands mom to be at best condition to express breastmilk and babysit 24/7, while keeping house in order as well as (not to forget) working the relationship with partner.

But there is no perfect life, especially for working mom, specifically in Indonesia. The labor acts allow maximum to 3 months of maternity leave. In reality, some companies allegedly cut the maternity leave period, plus some adverse actions to pregnant worker. The situation can be worse when a female staff get particular pregnancy or maternity problems that cause her to get rest. I always remember when my ex-gentleman-boss said repeatedly,”A woman worker usually gives her best performance in the first two years, and then it diminishing slowly, in most cases starting from the day she get pregnant.” It’s a challenging statement ladies! I bet he vow not to recruit female worker ever since then.

Yes I have read that some moms are succeed in keeping motherhood and office stuffs in balance. They do pumping between office hours, in any location, to provide breastmilk stocks for their little angels at home. But it only applies if mom get helper which now become the primary issue for most of working-household. Quit from the job may be an alternative solution. But in this economy which single income can not support family needs, it could be a bad decision. Nevertheless, nurturing is way more sophisticated than breastmilk and helper availability matters.

The beginning years is golden year in a baby’s life. Its has the right to get appropriate treatment from appropriate people. We need an emphatic-yet-fair on-demand-maternity-leave policy. At last, for the sake of our next generation well-being, I propose revision on government maternity leave policy. To enable moms accomplished their noble mission from God completely.

24 jam...

2012-01-16T11:41:00.000+07:00

Adalah waktu yang diberikan Tuhan kepada semua makhluknya di bumi. Manusia, binatang, tumbuhan, di Eropa, Amerika, Afrika, dimanapun. Semua sama. Tak ada yang lebih, tak ada yang kurang. Akan tetapi, dengan 'modal' yang sama, mengapa hasilnya berbeda? Manusia terutama, ada yang kaya, ada yang miskin. Ada yang sukses, ada yang gagal. Ada yang pintar, ada yang bodoh. Ada yang sehat, ada yang sakit. 24 jam adalah waktu yang digunakan Michael Dell, Donald Trump, Mahatma Gandhi, dan Steve Jobs setiap hari untuk meraih mimpi-mimpi besar mereka hingga dunia mengenal nama mereka sepanjang sejarah. 24 jam pula yang dimiliki oleh orang-orang biasa, seperti saya, dengan banyak memanfaatkannya untuk hal-hal nggak penting semata demi kesenangan diri sendiri.

Oh, alangkah menusuknya ayat Tuhan "Demi waktu... sesungguhnya manusia itu berada dalam keadaan merugi." Apabila ditilik dari kacamata dagang, jikalau modal tak dipakai semua untuk menghasilkan keuntungan, tentu dikatakan rugi. Pun jua dengan waktu 24 jam. Banyaklah kita pakai untuk hal-hal yang sedikit memberikan manfaat. Sisa waktu terbuang percuma untuk 'doing something for nothing'. Imam Ali bin Abi Tholib mengatakan bahwa "barang siapa yang hari esok lebih baik dari hari ini dialah orang yang beruntung. Hari esok sama dengan hari ini dialah orang yang merugi. Hari esok lebih buruk dari hari ini dialah orang yang celaka...". Al waqt kas syaif... waktu itu bagaikan pedang. Lengah, maka kau akan dibabat".

Ilmu tentang time management telah banyak dikaji. Berikut sedikit khasanah yang bisa dicermati. Pertama, jangan jadi orang yang merugi karena waktu. Lalu siapa orang-orang yang tak merugi? LanjutNYA, "kecuali mereka yang beriman dan beramal sholeh". Yaitu menghabiskan waktu demi sang Pencipta karena Dialah pemilik waktu dan diri kita, serta menghabiskan waktu untuk beramal baik kepada sesama makhlukNya. Pendek kata, berbuat baik secara vertikal dan horisontal.

Kedua, ingat 5 sebelum 5. Grup musik asal negeri Jiran "Raihan" membuat syair menarik

"...gunakan kesempatan yang masih diberi agar kita tak kan menyesal..."
"...masa usia kita jangan disia-siakan... karna ia tak kan kembali..."
"...ingat 5 perkara sebelum lima perkara..."
"...sehat sebelum sakit..."
"...tua sebelum muda..."
"...kaya sebelum miskin..."
"...lapang sebelum sempit..."
"...hidup sebelum mati..."

Ketiga, Ibuku mengatakan "jangan menunda apa yang bisa dilakukan sekarang. ambil kesempatan saat ini, karena sesal kemudian tak berguna...". Wejangan yang tak lekang oleh waktu, walaupun kadang masih tak kuasa menahan rasa malas yang demikian besar menghadang.

Selamat menikmati waktu!

Lionel

2012-01-11T08:56:00.002+07:00

Aku gak bisa nahan untuk gak menulis tentang tokoh ini. Sebenarnya dia bukan pemain bola favorit saya, tapi ya sudahlah, saya ikut apa kata dunia bahwa dia memang pemain terbaik jagat raya sepak bola saat ini. Saat baca Kompas pagi dan melihat wajahnya sumringah menggenggam trofi Ballon d'Or untuk tiga kali berturut-turut, saya telah dapat 3 hal yang harus saya bahas tentang dia.

Pertama, kekurangan diri jangan jadi hambatan. Hampir tak bisa dipercaya, pemain ini waktu kecil menderita kekurangan hormon pertumbuhan dan membutuhkan pengobatan intensif. Klub besar Barcelona melihat bakat alami dan tekad baja yang ditunjukkan si bocah, lalu tahun 2000 mengambilnya dari klub anak-anak Old Boys Rosario di Newell. Lionel diobati secara intensif sambil terus berlatih. Membuat debutnya di musim 2004-05, dia memecahkan rekor timnya untuk pemain termuda yang mencetak gol liga. Mayor kehormatan segera diikuti ketika Barcelona memenangkan La Liga di musim debutnya Lionel, dan memenangkan ganda liga dan Liga Champions pada tahun 2006. Musim terobosan di musim 2006-07, ia menjadi tim pertama biasa, mencetak hat-trick di El Clásico dan selesai dengan 14 gol dalam 26 pertandingan liga. Lionel kemudian memiliki musim paling sukses dalam karirnya bermain, musim 2008-09, di mana ia mencetak 38 gol untuk memainkan bagian integral dalam kampanye treble-menang. Musim ini memecahkan rekor kemudian dikalahkan dalam kampanye 2009-10 berikut, di mana Lionel mencetak 47 gol di semua kompetisi, menyamai total rekor Cristiano Ronaldo untuk Barcelona. Ia melampaui rekor ini lagi di musim 2010-11 dengan 53 gol di semua kompetisi. Lionel telah memenangkan lima gelar La Liga, tiga gelar Liga Champions, mencetak gol di dua final tersebut, melawan Manchester United di kedua 2009 dan 2011. Dia tidak ada di lapangan saat Barcelona mengalahkan Arsenal pada 2006, tetapi menerima medali pemenang dari turnamen. Setelah mencetak 12 gol di [Liga Champions UEFA 2010–11[|Liga Champions 2010-11]], Lionel menjadi pemain ketiga hanya (setelah Gerd Muller dan Jean-Pierre Papin) ke atas-skor dalam kampanye tiga Piala Klub Eropa Juara berturut-turut '. Namun, Lionel adalah yang pertama untuk memenangkan gelar Liga Champions pencetak gol terbanyak selama tiga tahun berturut-turut setelah Liga Champions berubah format pada tahun 1992. Data-data prestasi tersebut saya kutip dari http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messi. Segudang prestasi kinclong itu tak kan bisa diraih jika orang tuanya tidak merelakan Lionel mendapat bantuan dari Barcelona. Dimana ada kemauan, di situ ada jalan.

Kedua, rendah hati tidak membuat anda benar-benar rendah. Ukuran tubuhnya memang mungil, itu pun setelah diobati oleh Barcelona. Tingginya hanya 169 cm, bandingkan dengan gelandang Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo 185cm, atau bek Barcelona Gerard Pique 188cm. Tapi rendah dan kecilnya fisik tidak berarti apa-apa dibandingkan tinggi dan besarnya prestasi. Tetapi, sekali lagi tetapi, berbanding terbalik dengan sikapnya yang rendah hati. Lionel dikenal tidak suka hingar-bingar sorotan media, bidikan popularitas dan gosip selebritis, dan menghindari psywar lewat adu mulut di media yang biasanya terjadi menjelang pertandingan. Lionel tetap Lionel yang kalem dan bersahaja, walau ia punya segudang alasan untuk sombong kepada dunia.

Ketiga, pemain pribadi tak lepas dari tim terbaik. Michel Platini, juga mantan pemain terbaik dunia 3 kali, melontarkan kritik sopan bahwa Lionel lebih memiliki darah Barcelona daripada Argentina. Bagaimana tidak? Lionel bagai monster bersama Barcelona, tetapi seperti melempem ketika membela Argentina. Satu-satunya prestasi kebangaannya bersama tim Tango adalah ketika memenangi medali emas Olimpiade Beijing 2008. Tapi di Piala Dunia ia tak pernah menemukan permainan terbaiknya. Platini mengatakan, di Barcelona Lionel didukung tim terbaik, sementara di Argentina tidak. So, terbukti sudah bahwa selalu ada orang lain di belakang kejayaan seseorang. Tidak ada pribadi terbaik tanpa pendukung terbaik, tanpa tim terbaik, tanpa pelatih terbaik, tanpa teman terbaik.

(foto dari www.fanpix.net)
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VISI

2012-01-10T15:35:00.001+07:00

I like this picture. Taken last Saturday, 7 Jan 2012 in Taman Menteng Central Jakarta. It was a beautiful place. I just knew that Jakarta has this kind of place. A small garden in the middle of the city, well don't compare it with Central Park of New York :p but still, it's nice for taking a small walk in the afternoon or weekend with your family.

Not only the place, i also like the result of the photograph. It was taken by Hanif Widiyanto and Nadia Sekarsari, my brother and sister of alumni SMA Taruna Nusantara. He is a kind of talented guy with many skills. Someone you would hire if you have a growing company. And he has a photography skill based on his hobby. And i saw it was getting a serious hobby. When he took this pic, he brought many photo equipment, one like an umbrella with tripod, and etc. So, this is the result. A good one, eh?

Then i like the guys. They're all editors of Visi magazine of Ikastara this edition. Should be published end of Jan 2012 in Magelang. And still many things to do.

Tuhan Tak Butuh Surat Sakit

2012-01-03T16:08:00.002+07:00

Ada ada aja om Harry dan om Denny yang hari ini pusing mikirin mau kemana nyari surat sakit. Sudah tahu organisasi ini birokratis, eh gak minta surat sakit ke dokter saat absen kerja karena sakit. Sekarang diminta deh sama perusahaan, baru bingung. Mau nyari dimana surat sakit yang harinya bisa mundur ke belakang?

Ah, terkadang birokrasi membuat kita terjebak dan kikuk. Padahal, Tuhan dan semua rekan kerja juga pasti tahu kalau mereka sakit pada hari itu. Mengapa harus dipusingkan dengan selembar kertas sebagai formalitas?? Eniwei, lucunya hidup kita juga banyak tergantung dan terjebak dengan kertas-kertas macam itu. Ada kertas yang namanya ijasah lah, surat tanah lah, skkb lah, surat tilang lah, dan semua tetek bengek kertas2 yang berisi formalitas... Sorry buat yang beraliran administratur, mungkin kalian punya dalih kertas2 itu sebagai dokumentasi sebuah proses, fine! Tapi bukan berarti kita menjadi cenderung terjebak dengan dokumentasi dan melupakan esensi toh? Lihatlah, anak2 kita sekarang terpaku mengejar ijasah dan bukan ilmu, bank2 lebih peduli surat2 kelengkapan kredit daripada ide/potensi bisnis UKM, dan Pak Lurah lebih terpaku daftar warga miskin untuk memberi beras Raskin, padahal banyak warga kere di daerahnya yg tak tercantum di daftar itu. Birokrasi ini lama2 benar2 menjadi bureau-crazy... Sesuatu yang nggak lagi beresensi... padahal, esensi itulah yang terpenting, yang mampu menjawab makna di belakang setiap proses...

New year motivation...

2012-01-02T13:45:00.002+07:00

Thanks John von Achen for this video... i share it in my blog, okay :)

Dear all, the messages in this video is beyond the time. It's relevant all the time...

Let's have time to think about it as our foundation to move on in 2012 onwards...

2012 yeaaayyy!!!

2012-01-02T09:37:00.001+07:00

“Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”

William Arthur Ward quotes

(American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)

Little Champion

2011-12-28T10:18:00.000+07:00

We are the champion my friend...
Winning is not a chance, it's a choice...
Pick the battle, big enough to matter, small enough to win...

When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise. *Churchill

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. *Michael Jordan

Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing...
Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything....
Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is....
*Vince Lombardi

@fayakhyar... kecil-kecil cabe rawit... kecil-kecil juara... angkat tanganmu tinggi-tinggi ke atas nak... jadilah pemenang...

Share a little happiness

2011-12-27T10:09:00.001+07:00

Success is getting what you want, happiness is accepting what you get.

We can only find happiness by giving, not taking.

Happiness only have meaning by sharing with others, we can not find it in ourselves.

So, share happiness to others... give more...

Ojo Sambat

2011-12-27T09:00:00.001+07:00

Tanda ini harusnya berarti Stop kalo mengikuti terminologi lalu lintas. Tapi ini beda. Saya mendapatkannya dari BB group yang dikirim oleh seorang teman. Mungkin anda sudah punya juga. Kepada si pemilik gambar ini, saya ijin mempostingnya di blog saya yah... thanks...

Terus terang sudah lama saya tidak mendengar kata ini. Sambat dalam bahasa Jawa artinya mengeluh. Waktu kecil, saya sangat sering mendengar kata ini diucapkan oleh ibunda saya. "Wis, ojo sambat"... artinya "sudahlah, jangan mengeluh". Kepada siapa diucapkan? Kepada saya tentu saja, yang waktu kecil sering sekali sambat. Macam-macam sambatnya: sambat capek sekolah, sambat uang saku sedikit, sambat pengen dibeliin sepeda, sambat gak ada jajanan di rumah, sambat ini, sambat itu, sambat lain-lain. Kalau saya sudah kebanyakan sambat, maka ibunda hanya bilang "Sambat ora ono gunane"... mengeluh itu tak berguna.

Nasihat kecil dari seorang ibu yang terngiang selalu di telinga sampai dewasa, walaupun terminologi sambat sudah memudar dari memori. Saat dalam tekanan atau himpitan keadaan dan hati melemah, mengeluh menjadi satu-satunya pilihan dan kembali nasihat ibu muncul di kepala. Tak mudah untuk tidak sambat. Secara psikologis, orang butuh sambat sebagai curhat pelepas kekesalan. Ujungnya memang lega, tapi toh tak menyelesaikan masalah. Anda bisa berdebat tentang ini. Orang Jawa berpikir lebih jauh: buat apa sambat jika tak menyelesaikan masalah. Lebih baik upayakan sesuatu untuk selesaikan masalah itu.

It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!!
Dilarang Sambat yah!!

Awal Kehidupan

2011-12-26T17:34:00.004+07:00

Beginilah aku merefleksikan awal kehidupanku dulu. Semua serba sederhana, tak ada yang rumit bin njlimet. Mau tidur tinggal tidur, mau makan (minum) tinggal nangis. Ketawa dan ngoceh bebas kapan saja.

Inilah bentuk awal kehidupan ketika kata pembentuk makna tidak berarti. Hanya bahasa gerak dan mimik yang menentukan. Bunyi yang diketahui hanyalah "eh eh" dan "oeee" selebihnya hanyalah dengusan napas yang bergerak pendek-pendek...

Inilah bentuk paling purba dari komunikasi manusia. Tak ada kalimat, semuanya adalah bahasa tubuh. Kita tak perlu jauh-jauh kembali ke masa silam untuk menerjemahkan manusia purba berbicara satu sama lain. karena bentuk purba dari komunikasi kita adalah saat kita masih bayi. Pun tak perlu kita belajar bahasa isyarat untuk mengetahui maknanya, karena pesan yang disampaikan adalah pesan kemurnian yang bisa dibaca dengan mata cinta dari sepasang orang tua...

#untuk fayakhyar yang udah 3 bulan#

@fayakhyar

2011-11-25T16:01:00.002+07:00

This is my love, 1 month and half...

CSR?? What's that??

2011-11-25T11:02:00.003+07:00

I've been teaching about CSR for almost 2 semesters, but this CSR training made me feel that i knew nothing about CSR. The new system of CSR is already launched, named ISO26000. Facilitated by Eka Tjipta Foundation and Interdev, a CSR Training Organizer.

First, i thought CSR is only related to social activities: bakti sosial, donations, etc. Today my perception has been flipping around 270 degrees. CSR was not only social work, but also all activities related to adding value to the priority stakeholders. Stakeholders are: customer, government, media, vendors/suppliers, public, employees, etc. So, it was wider scope and definition of CSR. There are 7 core subjects of CSR, such as human rights, fair operational practices, labour practices, Community involvement and development, environment, consumer issues, and organization governance.

Well, at least i got something from this training. Besides new friends, good refreshing, and also some real actions to do. It's related to CSR planning that I have to run in Smartfren in the very short time.

PerMatAirPilihan

2011-10-10T08:26:00.012+07:00

Dua minggu sejak kehadiran bayi mungil cantik ini di kehidupan kami. Suasana rumah berubah total. Dulu aku dan Juni biasa cuma berdua, ngapa2in ketemu berdua aja, bahkan kalau aku lagi kerja, Juni banyak sendirian di rumah. Untung kuliahnya membantu mengisi kekosongan waktu sambil menjalani masa kehamilan. Kini, rumah terasa bertambah ramai. Selain kami berdua ada Ibuku, ada Dati PRT baru kami yg baru 1,5 bulan, dan tentu saja ada' the rising star' Fayruzka Fontana Akhyar. Fayruz artinya permata, fontana artinya mata air, akhyar artinya kebaikan atau pilihan. Jadi singkatnya, ia adalah PerMatAirPilihan atau PerMatAirKebaikan. lebih singkat lagi, panggil saja FAY.

Biasanya rumah kami sepi. Ya iyalah, orang cuma berdua saja. Aku pergi pagi jam 7am, pulang rata2 jam 8pm. ngobrol bentar sama istri, dan pergi tidur jam 10-11pm. Dan ini dilakukan di kompleks kami yang senyap dan tenang. Kini, hampir tiap saat tangis Fay nyaring terdengar. Yang minta mimik ASI, yang ngompol, yang bosen dan pengen digendong, dan lain-lain keinginannya yang menit demi menit kami pelajari satu per satu. Kami kini tahu kalau ia cuma bilang 'Eh.. eh' artinya sedang bosen dan minta ditemani atau diajak ngomong. Kalau termehek-mehek artinya mungkin pipis, dan kalau nangis kencang sambil mulutnya dimaju-majuin berarti sudah lapar. Selain itu ia diam, hanya mata yang menari-nari mencoba mengenali dunia baru yang masih asing baginya.

Melihat polahnya merupakan sebuah 'natural energizing' buatku. Sungguh, dalam 2 minggu ini tidur malamku gak normal dan bbrp hari sempat bener2 begadang abizz (sama ceritanya dengan ortu2 baru lain), tapi badan ini serasa gak capek. Padahal dulu, kurang tidur atau kecapekan saja bisa bikin gak enak badan atau leher pegal. Alhamdulillah, sekarang tidak. Inilah kuasa Allah yang memberikan kebahagiaan sebagai obat paling ampuh untuk segala macam gangguan tubuh. Oya, malam minggu kemarin aku sempat agak meriang karena kepanasan saat siang Jumatan di kantor. Tahukah apa yang membuat badanku segar lagi? Yap, gantiin popoknya Fay secara komplit untuk pertama kali. Biasanya dibantu ibuku atau full oleh Juni, tapi hari itu entah kenapa Fay seperti memanggil. Setelah memasang masker penutup hidung & mulut, pelan-pelan sambil agak bergetar aku lepas satu per satu bedongnya, lalu bajunya, lalu kain popoknya, lalu pampers-nya. Lalu kuangkat kedua kakinya dan kubersihkan kotorannya. Lalu ambil popok baru, baju baru, dan bedong baru. Pasang sarung tangan dan sarung kaki, ikat bedong lagi, dan selesai. Aku lakukan sambil sesekali melihat wajah bayi kecilku yg innocent dan damai, ia diam saja, kadang senyum-senyum sedikit. Gak tau dia kalau babe-nya sedang konsentrasi penuh melakukan misi ganti-popok ini, setiap sep dilakukan pelan-pelan dan sepenuh hati. Gak boleh grusa-grusu, jangan tegang, semua harus sesuai SOP yg dilatihkan hehe...

Dan itulah 15 menit yang menakjubkan! Berawal dengan meriang dan berakhir dengan keringat panas bercucuran di sekujur tubuh (tentu saja tidak sampai netes2 yaa...gak usah bayangin yg jauh2 hehe)... Rasanya sudah lama aku tidak berfokus seheboh itu. Rasanya sama capek dan senang dengan habis jogging pagi tip Sabtu. Dan aku merasa badanku segar cerah kembali. Makasih ya nak dan bikin sehat papi-mu...

(tunggu cerita Fay berikutnya yaaa...)

Success - Failure

2011-09-09T09:43:00.003+07:00

Success is never permanent, failure is never finale...

Kegagalan adalah kesuksesan yang tertunda...

Gagal mencoba 99 kali dan berhasil 1 kali ...

The secret of success is to fall 7 times and to get up 8 times...

Dare to fail means dare to succeed...

Success is not a destination, the beauty is in the journey...

If you fail to plan than you plan to fail...

Pengajar Muda

2011-09-09T09:14:00.003+07:00

Last year, i met this bright man in his office. At the doorstep, i saw this picture and my heart is a little bit stop beating. I never saw this picture before. It was President Soekarno in action, teaching 5 syllables of a-i-u-e-o. In front of him is a microphone, seemd like the most used and magic tool in his life. A tool that transmitted his great minds and barriton's voice to all over the world, esp to his lovely citizen of Indonesia. In the back is a backdrop of "Usaha Pemberantasan Buta Huruf".

This bright man is Anies Baswedan. He explained to me about his future project called Indonesia Mengajar. He asked me to give input to this great program.

I think Anies is one of the potential leader for this country. He is not only smart, but also elegant in expressing his idea or critics. He is never been too sarcasm, or too polite. he is just proportional and academical. His writings in newspaper is different, yet bright.

Ied Mubarak!

2011-09-09T09:04:00.002+07:00

Happy Ied Mubarak! After a month of fasting and struggling for His Mercy, we finally came to the victory. If i might say, that was exactly what every khotib said in their preach. But in reality, what they said and what we did is somehow different. Idul Fitri means back to purity, in our mind and heart. But men are determined to always struggle with their emotions, their anger, their ambitions. Those things made us loose again and again...

Kartini

2011-04-21T11:14:00.002+07:00

Today is a sacred day for Indonesian woman. Yea, Kartini's day. Kartini is the name of a woman hero of emancipation. As the story told, Indonesian women before the independence day were lived under the superiority of men. Men is like a king in everything. They could go to school, they could be the governor or mayor. Men were supposed to be smart in the community.

While women were only allowed to stay in the house and served their husband. Their territory was only in the kitchen, laundry, and bed. Some jokes said woman at that time was only have 3 profession for woman: chef, servant (maid), and hooker (for their husband). Men could marry more than one woman, but couldn't be vice versa.

The reality made Kartini very sad and she wrote her feelings in pain to her truly friend JH Abendanon from Holland. After Kartini died, Abendanon compiled the writings and become a book "Door duisternis tot licht", translated to Indonesia become "Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang".

The book then boomed and inspired many Indonesian woman to fight for their destiny and also their country. We know Indonesian woman heroes such as Tjut Njak Dien, Dewi Sartika, Marta Tiahahu, etc were the ones who had a brave heart in fighting the company in the front until their death. Their names were carved in the highest place in Indonesian heroes.

Se, selamat hari Kartini untuk perempuan Indonesia!!

Pirates

2011-04-15T14:55:00.003+07:00

Lately there is a hot news regarding this pirates matter. Indonesian citizen, around 20 people, are being arrested by the pirates of Somalian sea. They carry a mining material from Indonesia to be exported abroad and get caught by the pirates in Eden Sea. They asked for a bail about 3 millions US dollar. Indonesia government is still trying to negotiate through Foreign Affair Minister Marty Natalegawa from Cairo (Egypt). But it turned out to be failed, so the government is thinking to pay the bail.

What interesting to me is our citizen's reaction against government reaction. Government is perceived too slow in responding this case. Folks want government to send military troops to save the captive's life. I think, "slow" is now become the official middle name of this government, except they are able to change that image!!

Smartfren

2011-04-15T14:44:00.003+07:00

I'm blogging using Smartfren's modem. This company is really well-known as telecommunication and data operator in Indonesia. The only operator who operates in CDMA 1900 Mhz, that's why it has a better data quality network. Its slogan is Hebat Hemat, means great and cheap (value for money).

The name of Smartfren is a combination of 2 names: Smart and Fren, each is a company under different owner. Smart is under Sinar Mas Group, and Fren is under MNC Group. They mergered last year and become Smartfren. They both become the strong CDMA operator to compete Esia and Telkom Flexi that have already exist in the market.

Well, i've experienced Smartfren's products. I used handset (Samsung Pinger) and modem, and both are great product, cheap but reliable. So, why don't you try it?

2011-04-14T09:41:00.002+07:00

Long time no see... last time i updated this blog was 2 days before end of March 2011. It was quite long time because i already have commitment to update my blog everyday with one picture one article. In fact, i only could write 2 months 29 days, and stop after that.

But actually i have 2 reasons:
1. Linda's computer was crashed and still under reparation. I used to blog with her computer hehe
2. I used to be so tired when i got home after work, and so lazy to connect to internet to write...

Well, i think i still commit with my promise, so i'd like to pay the debt... hopefully i have enough ideas to write...

Award

2011-04-14T09:18:00.003+07:00

I got this award yesterday, and i felt no that excited about it since i only got 1st runner up, the same with 2 years ago. Well, my wife still said that i should be grateful for that, because i'm one over 30 participant who follow this competition.

Yes, i participated in Ary Suta Center Paper Competition Award 2011. I wrote something about "Facebook Leadership", the leadership mainstream which come up from the huge activities in social media networking, such as facebook, twitter, youtube, etc...

At first, i wasn't really optimistic about this idea when it was meant to be presented to board of judges because they're literally old people who i presumed didn't really know about social media. They might not have facebook or twitter account so they may not be able to feel that topics. But i should go on, and finally i got this award yesterday... hehehe... alhamdulillah :)

Trust Your Friend

2011-03-30T20:31:00.003+07:00

Sorry if the pic is not properly viewed here. I got this from websites http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/

"Recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising, according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries.

Ninety percent or consumers surveyed noted that they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70 percent trusted consumer opinions posted online.

“The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly,” says Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company.”

Well, this statement is related to my interest in analyzing social media. I come closely to the conclusion that social media is now an advertising mogul in marketing. We should really consider that now!!

Gambaru

2011-03-30T20:18:00.003+07:00

I found this word from Kompas several days ago. I read slightly about this too in an article which distributed fastly through mailing list and social media. It gained the momentum because of Japanese's Tsunami several weeks ago. Gambaru reflects the spirit of Japanese. I quote an article from Joseph Spence in http://ezinearticles.com/?Japanese-Gambaru---Literal-Meaning-and-Cultural-Impact&id=2768489

"The word Gambaru in Japanese means doing one's best and hanging on to the bitter end. This means that students gambaru study hard to pass exams, athletes gambaru practice hard to wins games, and company workers gambaru work hard to increase sales. It also means to work hard or patiently, to insist on having one's way, and to occupy one place and never leave, as in relation to working on a job or at a place of employment. Gambaru is also rooted in the following proverb, "The monk who does not work should not eat."

There is an imperative form of "gambaru, which is Gambare or Gambette. The imperative term connotes high achievement, motivation, and orientation to group harmony. The term is also used among members to encourage others in group activity.

The Japanese people use the term gambare quite often and for various reasons. They normally use the term at least once per day with saying good-bye and also at the ending of a letter. The Japanese also use this expression to encourage one another with the implication of "Please keep up your hard work until your goal is achieved."

The term is also used in many situations as a form of expression. The Japanese may use the expression in the initial states of a project. For example:

a) After the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, the slogan Gambare Kobe was used to encourage the people of Kobe to reconstruct their city and rebuild their lives.

b) Japanese people also use the expression among group members to encourage one another in cooperative activities. For example, during track and field days at school, children can be heard shouting "gambare" or "gambatte" to encourage their friends in the race.

c) Japanese people also use the expression as spectators to cheer on their team. For example, in the 1998 World Cup soccer match held in France, the Japanese spectators cheered the slogan Gambare Nippon! During the championship, the slogan was used on TV programs and commercials every day.

The literal meaning of gambaru is "to adhere to something with tenacity." It is a very popular term used when encouraging someone undertaking a very difficult task. Additional meanings are: Hang in there, Don't give up, Do your best, and Give it your all! The term also means work hard and patiently. Additionally, it exhorts enthusiasm and hard work from others.

Gamburu also has some additional meaning, some of which could be considered as negative connotations. Based on the denotation form of the word, it also means "to insist on having one's ways," and "to occupy one place and never leave." Additionally, the word is derived from ga-o-haru, which means "to be self-willed." This expression originally had a negative connotation of asserting oneself against group decisions and norms.

One may ask if other languages have the equivalent of gambari. According to Amanuma (1987, pp. 51-53), gambari, which is derived from gambaru, does not have any exact equivalent in non-Japanese languages. Additionally, Amanuma states, "Even though both Chinese and Korean have the characters that make up gambaru (gambari is derived from gambaru), they do not have expressions that possess the same nuances. This suggests that gambaru is an expression that is unique to Japan and expresses certain qualities of the Japanese character.

There are various proverbs that may show a difference between Japanese culture and American culture as it relates to the virtues of Gambaru. One proverb based on Japanese culture states, "The monk who does not work should not eat." This speaks to the fact that one must work and that through working one is able to live. The Japanese did not take into account play or free time in this proverb, unlike Americas in the following proverb.

Alternatively, an American proverb states, "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy." This implies that one does not have to work but rest and play. It places play and work in the same category, and on the same level which equate to virtue. The account of play in this proverb gives the Japanese a feeling of uneasiness regarding the virtues of Gambaru in American terms."

Submitted by "Epulaeryu Master."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2768489

Last minute

2011-03-27T21:25:00.002+07:00

I hate this, but tonight i have to do this. Another last minute task from my project, and i have to take long hours to do it because i didn't do it yestedays. Yes, it was my fault and i regret it when it comes but, hell yeah i still have to do it, otherwise i won't get the job anymore.

Not much talking, i gotta go to do my job. Adios!!

After 3 months

2011-03-27T21:18:00.002+07:00

After 3 months, here we now are gathering again. Started from the announcement from pak Pur, that it's been 3 months and it's the right time to gather again. So, we come to this place again, Pinus Cafe, for a small chit chat and big dinner. I ordered Fried Duck and everybody is kinda jealous to me because my order is coming faster than them, while they come earlier than me. Yah, Pinus Cafe is quite long in serving, despite its nice place to hang out, especially in weekend.

So, last night there were pak Har+wife, Pak Budi RW, Pak Boed BMW, Pak Pur, Pak Adi, Pak Piter, Pak Heri, Pak Parlin, Pak Ridwan, and me+my wife. We have a very nice talks in this meeting, as always with pak Pur's jokes and funny stories...

Well, see you all in the 3 months...

Cartoon

2011-03-25T08:00:00.002+07:00

I used to be very crazy with this show. I watched every cartoon movie on TV since I was a little boy. I remembered watching Micky Mouse, Donald Duck, Scooby Doo, Road Runner, Tom & Jerry (which is i just know that it's not a good program for kids), and etc...

Along the way, i found that children all aover the world loved watching cartoon as well. My nephew and niece watched Ipin & Upin everyday without being bored at all. Amazing how kids can stand focus on what they like for so long. Different from me now, who easily getting bored at something...

Well, back to cartoon. It's just a moving picture at once. And mostly it's a parody of human being. The story is mostly taken from animal (like mouse, duck, dog, cat, etc) but they have a human life like us. Their story is simple, going around from one situation to another, from one conflict to another, from one journey to another. Simple and easy digesting and full of humor, that's why kids love them. Well, now many serious cartoon movie, that not only for kids but also for adults like me, like The Incredible, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Hercules, and soon. Even now many cartoon produced only for adults, like The Simpsons, Archer, etc. Amazing how people create things in this life, eh?

But i can't make any cartoon. I tried several times to draw a cartoon, but failed hehehe, while i remembered my friend Tommy in high school, he could draw a cartoon picture very fast and good. Well, every person has its strength and weakness. Cartoon, for me, is the art of making laugh at ourselves. Like a wise man say, the smartest man in the world is the one who can make funny and laugh at him/her self because he/she can see the different angle of him/herself.

Well, can I?

Air Mancur

2011-03-24T08:10:00.003+07:00

Seorang turis bule baru tiba di Jogja dan menikmati turnya ditemani seorang guide lokal. Si bule bertanya "Saya kira Garuda Indonesia adalah maskapai paling terkenal di Indonesia, tapi kenyataannya kok tidak ya?". Si guide bingung, dan menjawab, "Garuda is our flag carrier and the most popular airline in my country". (nanya pake bahasa, dijawab pake inggris, bingung, kan?). Si bule menjawab lagi, "terus kenapa jarang logo Garuda Indonesia dan malah banyak tulisan Air Mancur? Berarti Air Mancur lebih terkenal kan?". Hahahaha...

Dua hari ini di kantor ada barang baru, yaitu air mancur mini di pojokan dekat parkir mobil. Cukup unik karena tadinya kita hanya punya 1 air terjun di bagian depan, dan kini ditambah 1 lagi, di sudut yang terpojok dan jarang dilihat orang, kecuali teman-teman sopir yang menunggu majikannya. Buat apa sih? Dengar-dengar, air mancur itu lambang hoki bagi yang percaya.

PENEMPATAN air dalam ilmu fengshui perlu mendapat perhatian khusus. Sebab air menjadi pemicu sangat signifikan untuk semua hal di kehidupan. Di ilmu fengshui, feng artinya angin dan shui artinya air. Menurut grand master Guo Pu dalam bukunya Zhang Shu, dijelaskan bahwa qi terdistribusi oleh angin dan akan terakumulasi bila berjumpa air.Pada dasarnya, ada banyak jenis air yakni air yang bergerak di sungai, air yang diam seperti di kolam atau ada air yang jernih dan air keruh. Semua air tersebut memberikan efek yang berbeda. Air di kolam akan dibahas untuk konsultasi kali ini. Berdasarkan teori dasar ilmu feng shui yaitu properti dibagi menjadi delapan sektor sesuai arah mata angin, sektor timur dan tenggara berunsurkan kayu, sektor utara berunsurkan air. Karena itu, secara mata angin maka ketiga sektor ini adalah yang paling cocok untuk penempatan kolam. Lalu, berdasarkan perhitungan direct-indirect water, sektor barat daya merupakan sektor terbaik untuk penempatan kolam yang berlaku hingga 2024.

Penempatan kolam yang disebut diatas tidak dapat serta merta memberikan efek positif. Artinya, teori tersebut perlu dipadukan dengan beberapa teori air lainnya. Tujuannya, agar dapat memberikan efek positif. Selain itu, metode lain yang perlu dipadukan adalah metode flying star.

Apabila pada sektor timur, tenggara, utara atau barat daya berjumpa dengan bintang air nomor 5, 2, 3 atau 7 maka sektor-sektor tersebut tidak akan kita tempatkan kolam. Karena bintang nomor 5 melambangkan bencana, bintang nomor 2 melambangkan penyakit, nomor 3 melambangkan pertengkaran, nomor 7 melambangkan masalah hukum. Artinya apabila kita menempatkan air pada sektor dengan bintang air maka efek negatif tersebut menjadi aktif. (http://www.selimutmaya.com/makna-air-dan-kolam-dalam-fengshui.html)

Bat(d)man

2011-03-23T07:49:00.002+07:00

Everybody knows this character. A hero with mask and wing, and make bat as his logo in his chest. He is a peacekeeper, haunted every criminals in Gotham city. He is so mystery because he only appear in a critical condition, when the victims are powerless, and the police is nowhere...

Well, i heard lately in local television in Indonesia, there was a phrase "Jebakan Batman" or Batman Trap. What is that? I don't know, then i googled a little bit this morning and there were many phrases. No Jebakan Batman but Jebakan Badman or Jebakan Betmen. I guessed it was like a wild trap put by some naughty people in our website or social media channel. At first they're like asking to introduce themselves, but later they will trap us to their weird websites or services which difficult for us to exit. So, we're trapped... In this case, it was really a badman trap!!!

Well, in our life, there were many traps around. We should be very careful of that. I remembered my friend Teddy always said "Waspadalah!"

Niam-Rizqi

2011-03-21T08:07:00.003+07:00

I met my cousins last night in a very unexpected ways. I was in Carrefour to shop some stuffs when suddenly my cousin Rizki called me. Rizki lived in Serpong as well and we actually never see each other for a very long time. It was in 2007 that the first time we met and he helped me to move in to my house now. And after that, he's gone somewhere that i didn't even know where. We just met once a year in Salatiga when i and Juni were back home for Lebaran.

And this afternoon he called and said someone will talk to me. And surprisingly, it was Mas Niam, my other cousin who lived in Australia. Whatta surprise! What's he doing here in Serpong? He said that he visited a family, but who? When he said a name Rika, i still confused. Than we made an appointment to meet in D'Cost BSD. Finally i knew that Rika is his friend, but i still don't know where they met actually. They didn't tell me when I asked about it. Whatever.

I was really happy to see my cousins last night. You know, I was really closed to them when we were a children, like 20 years ago. Niam and Rizki were living in Salatiga and I used tyo visit them whenever i got a school holiday. Well, actually i visited my grandmother, but i used to slept over to their house. Mas Niam is the oldest among us, i year older than me. And Rizki was the youngest, 2 year from me. The three of us used to play around anywhere and very happy that time. Oh God, i really missed that time. And i never imagined that we met in Serpong together like this, it's like a miracle.

So, Mas Niam was stopped over in Jakarta in his way move to Melbourne, from Perth. He has 1 week and he decided to go to Java first than back to Aussie next weekend, He planned to go to Bandung today, and Salatiga the next 4 days. While Rizki is still working at LG in Legok, Tangerang.

Adios, my cousins!

Obat

2011-03-20T21:44:00.002+07:00

Yang satu ini aku nggak suka sejak kecil. Kebayang sudah rasanya yang pahit dan bikin mulut berasa kebas. Ialah obat, namanya. Bukan merek ini sih yang saya bicarakan, tetapi semua obat yang sejak kecil saya telan ketika sakit. Waktu masih TK di daerah Genuk Semarang, tiap sakit saya selalu diberi bodrexin anak-anak yang rasanya seperti jeruk. Enak sih, dan cukup cespleng. Tapi agak besar sedikit, obat itu sudah tidak mempan, akhirnya beralihlah ke obat yang pahit seperti Bodrex atau Paramex. Kalau sakit rada parah dan harus ke dokter ya diberi obat2an ala dokter yang banyak macamnya dan tentu saja pahit rasanya.

Baru setelah dewasa saya memahami makna obat. Dimana-mana peran obat adalah penawar luka dan lara. Sebagian besar obat pahit rasanya. Beberapa obat yang sangat mujarab bahkan konon rasanya sangat pahit dan bisa bikin 'kliyengan'. Saya pernah dengar salah satunya adalah Jamu Godong Kates atau Daun Pepaya yang sangat pahit namun sangat ampuh untuk menangkal dan menyembuhkan penyakit malaria. Atau Pace/mengkudu, yang baunya saya bisa bikin saya muntah. Namun khasiat mengkudu tidak diragukan lagi bisa menyembuhkan beberapa penyakit seperti darah tinggi, kolesterol, dan asam urat.

Inilah hakikat obat, yaitu sesuatu yang baik namun pahit rasanya. Jika diambil maknanya, sesuatu yang baik untuk kita seringkali pahit atau tidak enak untuk dilakukan. Namun kita harus melakukannya jika ingin hidup kita lebih baik di dunia dan akhirat. Misalnya, sholat malam itu susah dan berat, karena harus bangun malam di saat semua orang terlelap. Namun Allah sudah menjanjikan bahwa orang yangt mendirikaan sholat malam akan mendapat karunia yang luar biasa dariNya. Lalu puasa, bukankah berat dilakukan apalagi kalau bukan di bulan puasa? Namun untuk menyucikan jiwa dan raga, puasa harus dilakukan, bahkan hal ini telah dilegitimasi di dunia kedokteran.

Saya jadi ingat lagu Rhoma Irama "mengapa semua yang enak-enak, itu yang dilarang... mengapa semua yang asik-asik, itu yang diharamkan?" Benar sekali lagu itu... semua hal yang enak-enak cenderung membawa kita pada kerusakan. Contohnya saja, makanan yang enak-enak seperti gula, daging, udang, dan lain-lain justru berbahaya bagi kesehatan apalagi memasuki usia menengah seperti saya. Makanan yang dianjurkan justru yang 'hambar-hambar' dan tidak berasa, yang tentunya tidak lebih enak dari makanan-makanan enak yang saya sebut di atas. Tapi itulah hakikat obat, pahit rasanya namun besar faedahnya...

Sharp

2011-03-19T13:17:00.001+07:00

Knife... cuts like a knife... is a bit lyric of a song which i forgot the title (shame on me). I can only imagine how hurt my body if a knife cut it. Can you also imagine that? I'm not going to threaten you, but I inspired by a moment this morning when I joined this meeting. Among many participants presented and discussed about a topic, suddenly one person, a director, come up with reminding of the real objective of the meeting. And suddenly everybody silent and listen, including me. What he said is cut like a knife. It goes through the basic, right into the target, and everybody agree. Until the owner said that he makes a difference today by saying that.

Oya, the owner actually gave me an inspiration today by his saying "what the difference you can make in the working place?"... It's actually intriguing me because people's benefit to others is measuring by this questions...

So, what i supposed to say to answer that question? I need a sharp answer!!

Womanology

2011-03-19T08:43:00.001+07:00

I just received some articles related to woman. No, it's not about me having troubles with woman, hell no hahaha :D but it's work related activity. And i just capture a unique word "Womanology". Some words with "xxxlogy" means knowledge about that thing. So, womanology may means knowledge about woman. This word is popularized by Yuswohady in his book "Womanology: The Art of Marketing to Woman" which was already launched at the end of last year, 2010.

I haven't bought the book yet, but i already read the synopsis in the author's website. I found it interesting because it has a closed relations with my current project which related to woman. What i found interesting is several concept on woman. First, woman is sensitive to trust. You have to gain her trust or heart first, than you can "do" anything to her, i mean you can make them buy your product. Winning her heart is difficult, as if we first try to attract our girlfriend. Second, woman is not technology savvy. They want simple things but elegant. Third, woman is price sensitive, that's why they're famous in bargaining. And etc...

Well, i can't really describe what i'm doing right now because it's still confidential, but maybe i can share it later on...

Work on Saturday

2011-03-19T08:28:00.000+07:00

I've been working in a company that believe in work on Saturday. At first, when i joined this company almost 9 years ago, work on Saturday is mandatory for every employees. But, due to many inputs from stakeholders, the owner decided to announce Saturday off started 2004, and this decision become a giant good news for everyone, including me.

But, for the last few months, I moved to another company which still the same group and owner. And unfortunately, this new baby company has a policy of work on Saturday. It's quite piss me off actually. Because for the last years i already have routine activities that i used to do in Saturday like teaching/lecturing, volunteering, community activity, visiting families, and soon. On Saturday i used to switch my mind to think something else than work. It keeps my sanity, actually.

Today is Saturday, and I already jumped in my computer at work. I actually have several things to do at my community like fogging, etc. But today is also a big meeting of chairman at office. No choice that i have to go to office and let somebody do my job at home. This my second time coming to office on Saturday after last Saturday, and I just find that next Saturday will be too. I already canceled my lecture session twice and i didn't know what my students are thinking about me right now... lazy teacher/lecturer, or what...

Well, sorry to write this unhappy matters on this blog, i just want to say something, and thank you for reading this...

75 today!

2011-03-17T08:13:00.000+07:00

This number is magic. I've been looking for this number everyday from January 1st till today. It's magic because this is my target and i want to kick this since in the beginning of this year.

What is it? It's the total of my blog postings in 2008, the highest number of my annual postings number so far. You know that i've been blogging since 2007 and there is a record every year. In 2007, i posted 23 articles, 2008 = 71 articles, 2009 = 21 articles, and sadly 2010 only 4 articles.

I kinda regret and dissapointed to myself to know that I only write 4 postings in 2010. So i made a self-commitment this year that i will write everyday, 1 pic 1 article. Alhamdulillah it goes well, even though for the last 1 week it's not that constant. I missed 2 days buat i paid back the day after by writing 2 articles.

And today, i checked the counter and already 75 articles i wrote in 2011, and it's over the psychological number. I'm so excited today! I know i can do it, and i will finish it till the end of the year, yeaaaahhh!!

Push

2011-03-17T08:04:00.001+07:00

I'm now in the action of pushing a corporate program in my company. And i guess i'm approaching my limit on it. I kinda start feeling plain and tired. I don't know why, maybe it's because i'm pushing it too hard or what.

Push is maybe just a word, but it also an action of forcing something or someone toward somewhere. You need to push something or someone to make them move from existing position. Sometimes you need to push them because their position nowadays is not good for them, or politically you simply want their position.

I kinda evaluate my life journey, and i felt that i mostly in the position of pushing something that didn't move forward. I've been in some position to make a program running or to make an organization moving. To push it, it takes greater energy than they have, so i kinda feel tired after that. It's like what i feel now in Ikastara. i felt that I've push this organization that hard so i'm exhausted now.

I need to refresh myself with something new, something more energizing and challenging...

Slum area

2011-03-15T22:03:00.000+07:00

I got this picture while walking along the road in Tenabang area, after taking a train to go to office this morning. The pic tells a lot of story, eh? What did you see there? A lady who do her dishes? A box of electricity thing? A blue tent, or what?

What i see is a pic of slum area in Jakarta. So many place like this you can see in Jakarta. No matter how big the city is, but still a lot of poor people around this city who live their life below the standard of prosperity. Look, how can we make sure that the water the woman use to wash the dishes is clean and healthy? Well, i can't imagine to eat or drink for that dishes...

But it's real, bro! I don't understand, where's the governor of Jakarta? What's he doing for almost 4 years? I don't know? He said that he is the expert of Jakarta, and he got a lot of support from many political parties, BUT WHAT NOW? Where's the result, bang Foke? Please, be responsible! This city has been a misery to many people who lived in there, you know?? Open your heart, because i know you already open your eyes...

Tenabang

2011-03-15T21:47:00.000+07:00

I took this pic this morning. I've been through this way thousand times but never have a chance to picture it. And this morning i suddenly had a time because i aware i have to write something i my blog tonight. Hehe, look at my motivation... it drives by external factor that actually not good, but still good enough for me than I didn't do anything...

So, I used to call it tenabang, but actually the name is Tanah Abang, means Red Land. I don't know why people call that, is it because the color of the land is red or what? Maybe, but i didn't check it for detail. What i know is this place is like a Bronx in New York. It's near downtown and close to slum area. What people see in this place is market and trader all over the place. It's a never dead area because people are coming from every direction to come here and trade something. You almost can find anything here. But be careful because you might find crime too... Just watch yourself carefully, ok...

And there's a train station here, kinda big station which connected many direction in Jakarta area, like Serpong (my home), Bekasi, Bogor, Tangerang, etc. It's like a hub or connector, and that's the words i like. Actually, i feel that my calling is to be a hub or connector for people, and that's what i have to be focused on in the future...

Singkawang

2011-03-14T08:02:00.000+07:00

Last few days I've discussed much about Singkawang for a small project with my students. Like last night when I discussed with them from 5-8pm. Talking about Singkawang and I remembered almost 5 years ago when the first time I visit Singkawang for the very first time. I have a duty to visit West Kalimantan, and that day was the longest trip I've ever had. Out from my house in Jakarta and actually arrived in the office at Sambas Remote Area at 10pm. The route was unique, through the air, land, and water. It was very first time I saw Kapuas river and it was so huge like a sea.

When I arrived at Pontianak, my colleagues at office promoted Singkawang already. (to be continued)

Inspiration

2011-03-12T21:46:00.000+07:00

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. action always generate inspiration. inspiration seldom generate action... frank tibolt

...

Shocking

2011-03-11T22:23:00.000+07:00

Shocking news come up today in late afternoon. I was in the office when i got a BB message about a huge earthquake around 8,9 Richter scale and tsunami in Japan. Then I got some picture of evidence, and one of them is this picture. Look at that. It's like in the movie "the day after tomorrow, the scene when the tsunami hit New York.

Tokyo is a big city in Japan and i believe millions of people are staying in the city doing their things that time. And i imagine they can do nothing when the giant water come in front of them. It's quite shocking because Japan is well-known as country of earthquake and tsunami for a long time. It's geologic location is in "the ring of fire", same like Indonesia. The difference is, Japan already has a super modern "early warning disaster system" and implemented them completely for a long time. We may heard that they do the disaster simulation many times in a year. But, today they're powerless. All the high tech system is useless. At the end of the day, people will only expect for God's help, because our life is simply in God's hand, and not in the technology...

It's truly another warning for God... Pray for Japan...

Juice Marginal

2011-03-10T08:30:00.000+07:00

Jalan pagi menuju ke kantor, di lorong Sojong (Sogo Jongkok) aku dicegat oleh Minto, penjual jus dan es buah buah yang biasanya mangkal di "foodcourt" belakang Sojong. Dia langsung mengeluh "Mas mulai hari ini aku pindah ke sini karena diusir sama yang punya lapak di belakang", dengan logat Jawa Timurannya yang medhok. Mukanya tampak memelas dan bingung.

"Lha emangnya kenapa dan sampai kapan?", tanyaku. "Bohir dan centeng-centengnya minta naik sewa, tapi terlalu tinggi. Kami coba nego, tapi belom berhasil. Akibatnya kami semua diusir. Untungnya ada yang mau minjemin lapak kosong ini. Tadinya kotor sekali dan baru saja saya bersihkan. Moga-moga senin udah bisa normal lagi".

Hmm, aku langsung terbayang tanah tempat lapak mereka berdiri dimiliki oleh cukong tuan tanah besar dengan bodyguard-bodyguard nya yang galak dan bikin takut. Memang begitulah cara mereka bekerja. Menyewakan lahan kepada pedagang di area non-komersil dan mematok harga sewa cukup tinggi. Memang tempat di sekitar Sojong itu strategis sekali, mempertemukan antara Jalan MH Thamrin dan Jalan Sabang (Agus Salim), dengan dikelilingi banyak gedung perkantoran. Begitu tenarnya Sojong ini sampai-sampai banyak orang dari berbagai penjuru datang ke sini saat makan siang. Padahal kantor mereka jauh-jauh, ada yang dari Sudirman, Kuningan, atau Tanahabang. Coba anda berkunjung saat jam makan siang, padat dan penuh berjubel oleh manusia.

Toh, ternyata nasib para pedagangnya tidak seindah yang dibayangkan. Para preman pemalak berkedok pemilik selalu mengintai setiap jengkal perkembangan usaha mereka. Begitu tampak maju sedikit, jatah sewa minta dinaikin. Pengusaha kecil dengan untung tak seberapa itu akhirnya cuma bisa menjerit termarjinalkan.

Akankah jeritan mereka terdengar sampai ke telinga penguasa?

Legacy

2011-03-09T22:34:00.000+07:00

Aku pertama kali seneng denger kata "legacy" dari acara So You Think You Can Dance episode tahun lalu. Legacy adalah nama julukan seorang penari B-Boy (penari jalanan) dari Texas CMIIW. Dia memukau panel juri saat menari di babak penyisihan karena menampilkan gerakan2 B-Boy yang luar biasa tidak biasa. Ada sesi dia jalan kepiting dengan 2 tangan yang mengundang decak kagum semua orang di ruangan itu. Kemampuan olah saltonya di udara juga dipuji, karena bisa melakukan 4 gerakan sulit sambil salto. Salah satu juri, Mia Micahels, mengatakan bahwa ia sudah pernah mendengar nama Legacy tetapi baru kali itu melihat tariannya dan ia merasa terhormat. Nah lo, sampai dapat recognition seperti itu.

Pendek kata, Legacy akhirnya masuk final dan bertahan hingga 6 besar, walaupun dilalui dengan susah payah karena ia harus jungkir balik belajar jenis2 tarian lain yang harus disajikan di reality show itu. Toh, semangat belajar dan daya juangnya belajar tari-tari lain seperti ballroom dance, jazz, tango, dll sering dipuji juri karena hasilnya memenuhi standar walau belum bisa dibilang hebat. Nampaknya perkembangan itulah yang dilihat signifikan oleh voters, warga Amerika.

Kata Legacy kedua aku dapet beberapa minggu lalu ketika nonton "Tron Legacy", sebuah film fiksi ilmiah yang cukup keren spesial efeknya. Berkisah tentang pengalaman seseorang menjelajah dunia impian TRON, yang dibuat serba digital. Ia harus survive melalui tantangan kompetisi di dalamnya dan bertarung dengan penguasa 'alam gaib digital' itu dan menyelamatkan sang ayah yang notabene adalah pencipta alam TRON tersebut. Akhirnya... nonton sendiri yah...

Legacy yg terakhir aku dapet dari diskusi BBM di grup PP Ikastara 2008-2011. Kita lagi ngomongin apa sih legacy atau warisan kepengurusan ini untuk Ikastara/anggota? Warisan adalah sesuatu yang akan dikenang seterusnya, seperti halnya terminologi ini dipakai dalam keluarga, ketika orang tua meninggal mereka meninggalkan 'warisan' kepada keluarga yang ditinggalkan. Warisan di sini bisa tangible atau intangible, tak harus melulu harta benda.

Lebih jauh lagi, aku berpikir sudah saatnya memikirkan what is my legacy to my family, and community, and nation nanti? Apakah kita akan meninggalkan sesuatu yang baik yang akan dikenang? Tentunya berharap seperti itu kan?

Dan saya belum ketemu jawabnya... warisan apa yang akan saya tinggalkan nanti...

Sabang

2011-03-08T21:44:00.000+07:00

Kata Sabang dikenal karena sebuah lagu "dari Sabang sampai Merauke... berjajar pulau-pulau..." yang amat melekat di benak waktu kecil. Sabang adalah sebuah tempat di ujung Indonesia bagian barat di propinsi Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. Sedangkan Merauke adalah kota yang mewakili ujung Indonesia bagian timur di propinsi Papua. Dua wilayah itu dipisahkan jarak ribuan kilometer, yang menunjukkan bentangan area yang sangat luas dari Indonesia.

Dan sampai umurku saat ini, belum pernah pun aku menginjakkan kaki di kedua kota itu. Tentu saja, karena selain untuk urusan pekerjaan, tidak adalah kepentinganku untuk pergi ke sana. Tapi hal itu tak pernah membuatku berkecil hati, karena walaupun aku belum pernah ke Kota Sabang, tapi tiap hari aku pergi ke (jalan) Sabang hehehe...

Yap, jalan Sabang adalah tempat kantorku berdiri. Nama jalan ini seharusnya Jalan H. Agus Salim, tetapi orang lebih mengenalnya dengan nama kuno, yaitu jalan Sabang. Jalan Sabang panjangnya tidak sampai 1 kilometer, tetapi cukup populer di kalangan warga dan komuter Jakarta. Mengapa? Karena jalan ini identik dengan banyaknya tempat makan yang enak. Di pagi hari, kita banyak menjumpai penjaja sarapan yahud, mulai dari nasi uduk sabang (ada 5 tempat), bubur ayam (banyak), lontong padang, atau kalau mau nasi beberapa warung nasi sudah buka. Masakan padang? banyak banget di jalan Sabang, ada Sederhana, Natrabu, Garuda, sampai Sabang Jaya. Favoritku Sabang Jaya, karena rasanya enak dan tidk terlalu mahal seperti di sederhana, natrabu, atau garuda.

Masakan Manado, ada juga namanya Resto Woku Blangan dengan aneka menu manado yang mantab. Cari Pempek Palembang juga bisa ke Cawan Putih. Kafe? pasti pernah denger Kopitiam Oey punya Pak Bondan Maknyuss? Ada juga di jalan ini. Mau resto asing? Ada Sizzler/American Grill dan Hoka-hoka Bento. Mau biskuit? Ada Khong Guan dan beberapa toko kue yang enak, sayang aku lupa namanya. Dan pastinya tak lupa food court jalan sabang yang jadi satu dengan Sogo Jongkok (sebutan untuk penjual anek barang kelontong KW1 yang murah-meriah) yang dikelola secara apik oleh Bank Mandiri dan Syariah Mandiri. Di dekat sini ada warung Arema yang rawon dan lodehnya dahsyat, plus anek jus buah yang mantab kali pokoknya... Nggak heran, ada satu teman yang pernah kos di jalan sabang dan bilang sangat berat untuk meninggalkan jalan ini karena demikian kuat kesannya...

Jadi inilah Sabang, pagi ini aku benar-benar memotret jalannya, dengan gambar yang agak unik karena gepeng2 diambil dari Blekberi. Lucu juga ternyata BB bisa motret kayak gini. So, kapan mampir jalan Sabang kontak saya ya...

Gadai Nyawa

2011-03-07T22:27:00.000+07:00

Saya sering takjub dengan tukang bersih2 kaca jendela gedung plasa BII tower 2 yang tingginya bisa di atas 50 meter. Sungguh, mereka punya keberanian yang luar biasa, mencari nafkah dengan menggadaikan keselamatan jiwa. Tak sekali dua kali aku mendengar kabar ada tukang-tukang itu yang jatuh ke bawah, kebanyakan sih karena teledor terhadap prosedur keselamatan.

Kuberpikir, mungkin mereka memang tak punya pilihan pekerjaan yang lain, sehingga harus menjual nyali mereka. Ah, masih mending yang mereka jual adalah nyali, bukan rasa malu seperti para koruptor dan anggota DPR yang jalan-jalan ke luar negeri itu. Intinya, aku salut dengan para tukang bersih-bersih kacagedung itu. Sangat layak kalau mereka dibayar mahal. Aku tak iri sama sekali, karena dibayar berapapun aku tak mau menggantikan profesi mereka.

Nah, kalau yang di gambar artikel ini lain cerita. Mereka bukan pemberani, tapi orang nekad. dari berita-berita yang ada, jumlah orang yang mati karena jatuh dari atap kereta maupun yang kena setrum jauh lebih besar daripada yang jatuh karena membersihkan gedung. Tapi herannya, tetap saja banyak yang nekad naik ke atap kereta. Seperti di gambar itu, kejadian di pagi hari ini di atas kereta langsam dari Rangkas Bitung yang masuk stasiun Rawa Buntu sekitar jam 07:00, terlambat dari jadwal. Luar biasa penuhnya kereta itu sampai penumpang di dalam berjubel bak dendeng, dan di atas pun penuh alias full book. Saat kereta berhenti di stasiun, beberapa penumpang di atas berhamburan turun dengan melompat ke bawah. Banyak orang ngeri melihatnya.

Tapi, mungkin juga mereka tidak ada pilihan. Kereta itulah satu2nya sarana transport mereka mencapai tempat kerja secara murah, malah gratis. Karena toh siapa kondektur yang mau meriksain tiket orang2 yang duduk di atap-atap itu hehe...

Ujung-ujungnya, terbahas lagilah urusan carut-marutnya infrastruktur transport di tanah air. Ah, capek aku membahasnya, sudah terlalu sering dan terlalu akut untuk dibahas. Mungkin lain kali saja... Maaf suasana hati malam ini sedang tak mendukung untuk membahas masalah itu. Kini saatnya tidur utk esok yang lebih menjanjikan...

Hero

2011-03-06T11:15:00.000+07:00

Sejak kecil, aku selalu memimpikan ingin menjadi seorang jagoan/hero. Mungkin terpengaruh materi bacaan yang disuguhkan lingkungan sekitarku. Waktu aku SD, bapak memberikan aku setumpuk buku bacaan keluaran Depag. Ada satu buku bagus di situ judulnya Murid Teladan, berkisah tentang Amin yang pintar dan jagoan. Bapak juga sering membawa majalah Rindang keluaran Depag tiap bulan, dimana ada satu komik bersambung tentang tokoh jagoan B3, mirip Batman dengan topeng dan baju khusus, namun nuansanya Islami. B3 sendiri kependekan dari Bismillah, Biquwwatillah, Binashrillah.

Di hari libur sekolah, aku bermain dengan teman se-gang di daerah Kinijaya Semarang. Jumlah kami ber-5 atau 6 kalau tidak salah. Komandan kami yang tertua adalah mas Agung, lalu aku, terus berturut-turut Wisnu, Janar, Bagas, dan Robi. Kami suka nongkrong di cakruk, bahasa Jawa untuk pos Ogah yang terbuat dari kayu dan bambu. Wisnu adalah anggota gang kami yang bsia dibilang paling tajir. Diantara kami hanya dia yang punya pemutar video kaset Betamax. Ah, sepertinya Robi juga punya, tapi bapaknya galak jadi kami jarang main ke rumahnya. Sementara keluarga Wisnu relatif lebih ramah, menurut asumsiku waktu itu.

Jadilah setiap minggu kami nonton film jagoan di rumah Wisnu. Aku masih ingat kami nonton fil jagoan Jepang Sarivan, Gaban, GogleV, Zabogar, Polimar, LionMaru, Kamen Rider, dan lain-lain. Kami juga menggemari film silat China seperti Kwee Cheng, Yo Ko, To Liong To - Ih Tian Kiam, Jacky Chan movies, dan banyak lagi. Belum lagi film-film Amerika seperti Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, dan sebagainya. Kami sangat kagum dengan tokoh-tokoh itu dan seringkali mengimajinasikan kehebatan mereka waktu kami bermain perang-perangan di sekitar Cakruk. Imajinasi kehebatan mereka pun seringkali terbawa dalam tidurku. Ya, adikku Nila atau Andi lah yang jadi korban, kadang tak sengaja kutendang atau kutonjok mereka dan jatuh berguling-guling dari kasur ketika tidur.

Entah mengapa aku cukup terobsesi dengan sosok hero ini. Sepertinya hebat sekali bisa terbang dan punya kekuatan super lalu menolong banyak orang yang kesusahan, lantas dielu-elukan banyak orang. Fantasi masa kecilku tentang tokoh jagoan sedikit banyak mempengaruhi pola pikirku ketika menginjak remaja. Aku ingin dikenal punya ciri-ciri jagoan: fisik yang kuat, otak yang pintar, dan suka menolong. Ebtah mengapa pula fantasi-fantasi itu bisa membantuku mengatasi beberapa kekendoran motivasi dalam belajar yang sempat beberapa kali kualami. Ketika aku sedang tidak sehat, aku berpikir betapa memalukannya seorang jagoan kok bisa sakit? Dan dorongan itu membuatku cepat sembuh. Ketika nilai sekolahku anjlok, kuberpikir sungguh aneh jagoan kok bodoh? Lalu aku terlecut belajar kembali. Pun ketika aku lagi malas-malasnya membantu Ibu membersihkan rumah, si jagoan imajiner menegurku karena kehilangan sifat penolong.

Jadi, aku merasa pengaruh bacaan dan tontonan masa kecilku tentang jagoan lebih banyak positif daripada negatifnya. Oya, aku belum cerita akibat negatifnya ya? Dampak negatif yang kurasakan lebih banyak ke fisik. Terobsesi dengan jagoan yang bisa salto dan melompat, aku pun menirukan hal yang sama dan sering cedera. Waktu itu aku sangat suka melompat atau meloncat. Aku pernah melompati parit selebar 1,5 meter ketika dikejar anjing, aku senang melompat turun dari pohon angsana di depan rumahku walaupun beberapa kali lututku luka berdarah, sembunyi-sembunyi aku belajar melompati tebing sedalam 2 meter di belakang sekolah yang berakibat baju dan celanaku robek berkali-kali dan membuat Ibu marah. Aku tidak bisa melihat papan sejajar dan aku belajar melompatinya a la pesenam papan sejajar. Saat ujian olahraga lompat tinggi, aku mencoba melompat dengan berbagai gaya, termasuk meniru gaya lompat harimau yang menjadi spesialis temanku si Ola, berakibat mukaku mencium bak pasir dan pedih sekali, walaupun aku puas. Sungguh, dulu kaki ku lincah sekali.

So, apakah impian hero itu masih ada? Entahlah, mungkin masih tapi lebih sebagai nostalgia. Aku justru berpikir apakah anak-anak sekarang masih mempunyai imajinasi jagoan yang sama dengan imajinasiku dulu. Dengan adanya PlayStation, Nintendo, Internet, Game Online, dan sebagainya yang canggih2, seharusnya imajinasi mereka lebih canggih. Semoga juga tidak seoperti yang ditakutkan orang, bahwa semua media teknologi canggih itu justru membawa mudlorot karena merusak otak anak-anak dengan content-content kekerasan dan cabul.

Semoga saja...

nb: saya baru dapat singkatan ini = HERO (Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives)

Jambu Air

2011-03-05T20:08:00.000+07:00

Biar kuceritakan kisah satu pohon ini. Sekira 2 tahun yang lalu, aku jalan-jalan ke berbagai nursery di sekitar Serpong untuk mencari beberapa pokok/tanaman hias. Aku dan istriku sedang gandrung-gandrungnya bercocok tanaman hias di halaman depan rumah kami yang sempit. Tak apalah sempit, yang penting ada sepetak tanah yang bisa ditanami. Tapi karena kecil, kami harus benar2 memilih mau bercocok tanam apa di tanah itu.

Bunga, adalah satu pilihan. Namun apa daya, tampaknya kami tak begitu berjodoh bertanam bunga. Beberapa pokok kecil bunga yang ditanam segera saja layu dan mati. Lalu kami beralih ketanaman hias berdaun lebar. Ah, aku pun tak ingat namanya karena tak berapa lama mereka juga segera layu. Tak tahu pun mengapa, padahal kami berasa sudah cukup rajin menyiram dan memberi pupuk yang dibutuhkan. Memang tak semua mati, beberapa masih hidup sampai sekarang dan menyejukkan mata kami di setiap pagi. Sungguh ciptaan Tuhan yang membawa kedamaian.

Di sebuah nursery di dekat perumahan De latinos, kami menjumpai pokok ini, sebuah pokok Jambu Air bertinggi kira-kira 50 cm dan berdaun bagus sekali. Tak berpikir tiga kali, segera saja kami bayar dan angkut ke rumah. Tapi seperti yang lain, pokok ini tumbuh menyedihkan. Daunnya banyak dimakan ulat hingga kering. Kusemprot dengan obat pun tak kunjung membaik. Lalu pokok ini berpindah tempat, dari dalam halaman rumah keluar pagar, yang membuatnya lepas dari pengamatan kami selama beberapa bulan.

Tapi nasib pokok itu cukup bagus. Mata jeli si Babe Bulu, tetanggaku, menangkapnya dan meminta ijin padaku untuk menanamnya di pinggir jalan tanah kakaknya yang terletak persis di seberang depan rumahku. Jadilah pokok Jambu Air itu ditanam di sana. Kukira tak sampai setahun, pokok itu berkembang pesat sekali. Mungkin karena Babe Bulu rajin merawatnya. Pada awal meminta pokok itu ia bilang "ini tanaman kami akan bantu rawat, tapi nanti kalau berbuah tetap punya Pak Dani", aku waktu itu hanya tertawa ringan karena tak mengira pun akan berbuah.

Tapi Tuhan berkehendak lain. Pohon itu mengeluarkan beberapa kuncup bunga bakal buah di beberapa sudutnya, seperti bisa kau lihat di gambar. Sungguh indah melihat bakal makhluk itu tumbuh. Tak terperi juga bahagianya diri ini. Aku ambil gambar ini atas permintaan istriku, dan dia pun sungguh bahagia melihatnya. Kebahagiaan yang kini aku bagi dengan kalian melalui tulisan ringan ini.

Memang pokok itu tak sempurna-sempurna sekali. Banyak daunnya masih dimakan ulat, walau tak begitu banyak. Di beberapa ujung dahan muncul daun-daun baru berwarna hijau kemerahan yang cantik menggemaskan. Saat hendak kuambil gambar, sekilas kumelihat seekor bunglon melintas dan kupikir, "wow, pokok ini telah berjasa menjadi rumah bagi makhluk lain."

Sore ini, aku mendapat pencerahan bahwa kita tak seyogyanya pesimis akan suatu kondisi yang buruk, karena suatu saat ia akan berangsur membaik. Tuhan telah menjanjikan bahwa dibalik suatu kesukaran pasti ada kemudahan, dan dibalik setiap kesukaran pasti ada kemudahan. Jangan pula kita tak mengacuhkan sesuatu karena kondisinya yang buruk. Tetaplah beri ia cinta dan kesabaran, karena kesabaran akan menjadi penolong bagi setiap tindakan.

Terima kasih Jambu Airku...

Zero2Hero (1)

2011-03-04T08:03:00.000+07:00

He is a y.o younger than me. He was born 23 December 1980 in Cairo, Egypt) is an Internet activist, computer engineer and since January 2010 the Head of Marketing of Google Middle East and North Africa. In 2011, he became an international figure and energized pro-democracy demonstrations in Egypt after his emotional interview following 11 days of secret incarceration by Egyptian police.

He is the example of From Zero to Hero using Social Media networking. This media is amazing, because of it people can reach popularity in a very short of time.

Freemium

2011-03-03T18:51:00.000+07:00

Today i explored many free analysis tools for social media. There are many tools and it was all amazing ones. But actually it made me confused because they offered almost the same thing but with different constraints. Some of them has constraints in content, constraint in number of object analysis, etc. In a certain point, they will ask for money.

Yeah of course, there's no such thing as free lunch. People give away free things in order to get bigger profit. In this case, i got a good word from Pak YOH, that is Freemium. It means you will get free products until certain point, and then you'll be charged premium price. It's like beta version who used to be free until you buy the complete package.

So, what do you think of this freemium products? Do you think it's a lie or cheat or trick?

Phoenix

2011-03-02T20:37:00.001+07:00

I have a new knowledge today. It's related to Phoenix. Whoever has watched Harry Potter movies might know this animal. Its Professor Dumbledore's pet, which in a certain time burned itself and after that reborn again from its ashes. Harry was amazed to see that, and i believed you too, because it's unusual.

Phoenix is an imaginary animal which has many mystical stories. Its myth appears in many tribes such as Greeks, Egypt, Romans, Persians, Chinese, etc. Egyptians believed that Phoenix is the symbol of worship of the sun. Only one of these magnificent birds existed at any time. It was exceptionally long lived and as its final days approached, it was said to create a nest of various herbs and spices, then it set the nest on fire and immolated itself. A new phoenix was born from its ashes. (source: http://ofscarabs.blogspot.com/2010/11/whats-with-phoenix.html)

In China, the phoenix is considered to be one of the most important legendary creatures, second only to the dragon, and is considered to be the leader of birds. In Japan, the phoenix is called fushicho, which means immortal bird. Then, of course, there’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, dedicated to defeating Voldemort - the darkest wizard in history – and protecting his targets. Symbolically, the phoenix is associated with rebirth, immortality, renewal.

In Chinese also, Phoenix is representing Yin, and Dragon is Yang. We already knew that Yin and Yang is eternal couple, just like day-night, left-right, male-female, and etc. Unfortunately, people are used to talk about Dragon than Phoenix.

Deep Dive

2011-03-01T08:26:00.000+07:00

I heard this word for the last few weeks. Literally, deep dive means you go under (dive) deeply to the base. But fortunately it was not about diving mechanism or something related to swimming, coz i'm not that good at it. But it's related to management buzz word for deeper explore/analysis on some cases. Some of our top executives used this words to describe the process of digging or diving some problems to the root causes and find the right solutions for them.

It was actually a cool word. I'd like to use it more often in the future. And it's not that popular now, i think. So, as usual, i googled this word on Google picture and i found many pics related literally to diving sport, like the one you see beside. No pics related to management analogy.

BUT, actualy we still can learn from the pic. See this pic and there are some questions come up. First, why do people deep dive? Because they want to see some more beautiful things down there that they can't see in the surface. It's similar in management, if we want to get more findings, we have to deep dive. Second, how can we deep dive? Can anybody do it? Yes, but you have to have some trainings and certification to do it. Only certified diver can dive freely in any sea in the world. There is something like international certificate for diver. So, basically NOT everyone can deep dive, you have to have the skill. And again it's similar in management, to do the deep dive you must have some skills also that you have to learn and experience.

Third, you see that to deep dive people need some supporting tools like oxygen tank, goggles, certain swimsuit, and etc. And it was not cheap. Diving is one of the expensive sport in the world (moreover if you calculate the trip cost :). And it's similar in management, to do the deep dive you need some management tools like six sigma or others. Many of them, and they're some cost to get it. Nothing is free. The more you pay the price, the more you get the result. And price is not always about money, it could be your time, your people, your wealth, and etc...

So, are you ready to deep dive with me??

28 Feb

2011-02-28T22:26:00.000+07:00

Today i try to google a picture of 28 February, and i got this picture as the first picture appear in the google pic search. It's a stardust and nebula. Whatta surprising picture. Looking at this picture is like looking at a mystery. I always like looking at the sky since i was a little boy. Astronomi, actually, is one of my favorite subject studying. Even i dreamed someday i will be an astronomer.

I used to imagine, how small and super tiny human is. I am living in Indonesia, that is part of the world, that is lived in earth, that is part of solar system with many planets, that is part of milky way galaxy with billions solar systems, that is part of universe with many galaxies with no boundaries. So, i used to ask myself: do we really live 'alone' in this universe? Alone i mean only human in earth. Does God make another living creatures out there? If not, so why God only create human in this planet among HIS super giant universe? Is Alien or UFO true and real?

According to Quran, God created human and genie to live and serve HIM, only that. Not specifically mention living in earth like the place we are living now. Maybe God leaves some mystery to us to find out, so God gives us brain, to think about HIS creation and be thankful of that.

It is truly a mystery for me, still until now... Do you have the answer?

Camel

2011-02-27T22:01:00.000+07:00

Once I have a Camel Active boot. It was a good leather-boot. But i don't know whether it's related to any camel material. Was it made from camel's leather? I don't know.

Well, this afternoon i played joyfully with Noval, Ocha, and Hana, my three musketeers' nephew and nice. They came to see my wife at Putra DaLima Hospital Serpong. The day before they also came, but i wasn't there. I was at home cleaning some stuffs. My wife told me that at that time those kids were looking for me, especially Ocha. Hehe, it was cute. So today I met them and I played with them for almost 2 hours. Whatta refreshing activities playing with some kids.

In the middle of the hospital, there were a fountain and fish pool. The kids were very happy to see many big fish in the pool, and they screamed hysterically. I was ashamed because we're not allowed to scream that loud in this hospital. But it was forgivable because they are still kids.

And close to the pool, there was this camel statue. Hana and Ocha were very excited to see it. Hana wanna ride in its neck but unfortunately it was forbidden to cross the garden. So, finally we can only see the camel.

What i actually learn today is, how happy when we were still a kid. What we did was just playing, running along the way and didn't think much of everything. If we want something we could just ask our parents or bigger family members. Just like today when the kids asked me to buy some ice cream. They have just asked and i would be happy to give them what they want.

I remembered when i was in elementary school and spent a holiday in Salatiga to visit my grandma and uncle. At that time, i was really really want a neckerman sandals. I forgot how i could get the idea, maybe i just saw many friends wearing that sandals, but i was too afraid to ask to my parents. Then i used my uncle to buy me the sandals in Salatiga. We were shopping at Green, one of the biggest shopping center in town at that time (actually it was very small comparing to the hypermarket today). And i saw the sandals, i was sooo excited. But unfortunately the price was expensive, and my uncle told me to buy the cheaper one. Then i started to be disappointed. My face turned red and i was ready to cry. My uncle's heart was melted to see me like that and he finally bought me that sandals. I still remember how that Neckermann sandals looked till now. It was black, comfort, gentle, and had a sling rope in the back.

Well, sometimes i wanna come back to my old life, to my kid time 20 or 25 years ago. But, unfortunately or fortunately i can't. Life will only move forward, never backward. The only way we could come back to our past is just using our memory, but we can't physically go back there. So, memorize our present time as good as we can, because someday in the future it will be our memory and our only channel to go back to this present day.

So, let's live our present beautifully... everyday!

Fastabiqul Khoirat

2011-02-26T21:00:00.000+07:00

It means race in goodness. Race has a specific meaning as competition to gain victory, to find a winner. In goodness, there's no winner because everyone is a winner in a universal victory. Goodness will always win against evil. This is the battle between good and bad, and as you know from the movie, the good will always win after all, at the very end.

So, race in goodness means we have to create goodness in our life as much as we can. God has given us many capitals to be shared with other people. Be thankful for that and share it with others. The key to happiness is not in getting what we want, but in sharing with others, believe me! You'll never feel enough for what you get, because you'll want more and more, and that tortures you. But, if you share with others, your wealth is helping many people and it's more valuable than you put it in a bank for some rate.

So, let's begin our race in goodness... anyone!

Terlewat

2011-02-26T20:30:00.001+07:00

Bulan ini terlewat sehari. kemarin aku tidak posting, jadi ya gantinya hari ini 2 posting sekaligus. Kemarin sungguh aku lunglai, capek sekali. Aku pulang pukul 8 malam dan langsung ke rumah sakit. Peengen hari itu aku pulang cepat, tetapi dua event di kantor memaksaku untuk tinggal. Lagian pak Agus tidak masuk, jadi tidak ada main facilitator untuk 2 event tersebut. Selesai event jam 6an aku langsung cabut pulang. Hujan di Rawabuntu tak kupedulikan. Kupacu motor tuk segera lihat kondisi istriku yang sudah sehari dirawat di rumah sakit. Alhamdulillah sudah baikan, bahkan dokter bilang banyak kemajuan hari ini setelah dirawat. Ah, mungkin itu hikmahnya.

Kemarin juga tak sempat untuk tenis, tapi tidak apa-apa kareena masih ada minggu depan. Tapi entah, capeknya sama dengan kalau tenis. Dari rumah sakit aku harus pulang dulu ke rumah, menyalakan lampu dan beres-beres, lalu segera ke rumah sakit lagi. Anehnya, aku mau pergi meninggalkan rumah lagi kayak orang linglung, bolak-balik 3 kali karena selalu ada yg ketinggalan. Capeek deeh.. Jadilah begitu sampai di rumah sakit, aku langsung tepar dan tak sempat menulis di blog ini... ah, bulan Februari bolong satu tulisanku... Cedera sudah janji pribadi bulan ini...

Life

2011-02-24T23:03:00.000+07:00

The biggest mystery in the world, if i may say, is LIFE. Everyone who is still breathing has a life. If not, we call them dead. But life is not the same to everyone. It's different and unique, even for the identical twin. It's written by God that people can only go through it in order to serve and worship Him.

Tonight i called my mom and she told me about my birth process, that she just has a whole believe that i would be okay because she had a miscarriage before. My life since i was in my mom's body was already unpredictable and so weak. I depended all my life to God, even my mom can not predict me. That's the essence Islam, that we should believe that Allah will give us the best.

In this life, after 31 years, i just want to give my best to my big family, because they've been already given their best to me. Then i wanna give the best to my friends, neighbors, relatives, and community as big as i can do. Sometimes i think i didn't think much about myself, i don't really care. I believe that my life should be dedicated for others, and that's where i find happiness and meaningful life. I really really want people around me feel advantages to have me with them.

Bismillah, I hope Allah help me to realize that dream... Amin

Competition

2011-02-23T08:01:00.000+07:00

Look at this picture.Two fliers hanging side by side in a wall. They are not friends, they are competitors. Then look at the backward of the fliers, there are other fliers, owned by other competitors.

All of them are telco industry players. The flier in the left side is from Telkom Flexy. The right one is XL. At the backwards are Telkomsel's. I'm curious where is Smartfren's? Because this area is very close to Smartfren's head office. Well, it turns out that Smartfren's fliers are all over the outlet's front wall. Good :)

Look, in only less than 5 minutes I've been exposed by many information of brands and products. I don't even look at the content of the fliers because my head is already full of figures and sometimes i can't digest that. And i guess a lot of people feels the same condition. This is what we called "the information overload", which somehow made people sick.

Well, if we say that the competition in business is like a war, I'd like to say that the real war is in my head and people's head. In my head, and your head also, there are many needs, and wants, and brands, and products, and commercials, and soon, and soon. When we go to the hypermarket, we even have to think hard to choose which product we'd like to buy. Sometimes we fight with our wife or kids to make the decision. Each of us had our own argument; I consider the function, my wife consider the price, the other consider the promotion/advertising, etc. So, the war is coming out from our head to our mouth and become real 'war' with other people. Imagine if the scope is as wide as a community or a country.

Adios!

Falling

2011-02-22T18:06:00.000+07:00

I got a story from Lusi, that she fell in the way back to home from working. She was in hurry to step out from the train, but unfortunately she fell. Poor her, her left knee is hurt.

I had the same story. I remembered it was 2 days before graduation ceremony in senior high school. I just woke up from my afternoon sleep and wanted to go to the bathroom, when i miss my step and fall down quite badly.

I got two good quotes today. First, if you fall, make sure you fall forward. The second one is the key to success is to fall seven times and to get up eight times. Whatta good quotes. The first one tells us that if we have to fall, then make sure that we fall forward. Do not fall backward because it will be worse. The second one, everytime we fall, we have to make sure that we can pick ourself up and get up again, in any condition we fell.

Cheers (especially for those who fell today)...

Oh... Sawit

2011-02-21T08:05:00.000+07:00

Tidak ada yang meyangkal, Indonesia adalah surga tanaman komoditi dunia. Hal ini sudah disadari oleh bangsa asing sejak ratusan (bahkan mungkin ribuan) tahun yang lalu. Kedatangan penjajah ke negeri ini selama ratusan tahun telah membuktikan hal tersebut.

Salah satu primadona tanaman komoditi saat ini adalah kelapa sawit (palm oil). Begitu hebatnya sebagai primadona sehingga menjadi polemik internasional karena terkait isu lingkungan. Sebagai penghasil minyak sawit (Crude Palm Oil) terbesar di dunia, Indonesia dituduh melakukan perusakan lingkungan dengan membabat hutan alam dan diganti dengan perkebunan sawit.

Banyak kontroversi terkait kondisi ini. Para penuduh mengatakan bahwa Indonesia sebagai salah satu paru-paru dunia seyogyanya mencegah perluasan lahan sawit dengan cara pembabatan hutan. Sebagai salah satu negara dengan luas hutan terbesar di dunia, Indonesia memang diharapkan akan menjadi juru selamat bagi krisis pemanasan global yang saat ini semakin mengancam.

Tetapi, sebagian besar pemangku kepentingan sawit Indonesia, baik pemerintah maupun swasta, mengatakan bahwa hal itu sangat tidak adil bagi Indonesia. Kerusakan alam yang saat ini terjadi adalah hasil dari proses perusakan hutan selama ratusan bahkan ribuan tahun lalu yang dilakukan oleh negara-negara Eropa dan Amerika. Reaksi pemanasan global tidak terjadi dalam sesaat, tetapi merupakan akumulasi dari proses tidak ramah lingkungan selama berabad-abad lamanya. Di saat sekarang negara-negara tersebut telah menjelma menjadi negara maju dan modern, mengapa mereka menuduhkan kerusakan alam ini kepada negara-negara berkembang? Kompensasi yang ditawarkan dalam Konferensi Internasional tentang Perubahan Iklim pun masih menjadi perdebatan yang tak kunjung usai. Namun dampak pemberitaan negatif mereka di media cukup memukul petani-petani sawit kita akhir-akhir ini.

Ada yang mengatakan, negara-negara barat teracam dengan produksi CPO kita yang makin tinggi karena akan mengalahkan produksi minyak nabati yang mereka produksi, seperti minyak zaitun, bunga matahari, dan lain-lain. So, tuduhan yang dilontarkan melalui Greenpeace semata-mata atau ujung-ujungnya tetap bermotif duit dan profit. Satu alasan klise dan transparan yang sama sekali tidak elegan.

Munculnya reformasi proses perkebunan sawit menjadi sawit lestari (sustainable palm oil) merupakan sebuah helaan napas panjang di industri ini. Kita akan melihat, apakah konsep ini akan mampu menjembatani polemik yang tengah terjadi. Let's see!

Care

2011-02-20T21:05:00.000+07:00

You better check this logo in my website http://www.ayopeduli.org. This is a non-profit organization which i've been running for more than a year. This is a community-social movement which involved some people who lived in Kencana Loka BSD. We do care about some health issues happened in our surrounding communities. Some of the children had malnutrition diseases. They weren't grow up normally, some of them were smaller and lighter than they should be.

Well, government should take care of this issues, but sadly they seem don't car, and i can't help thinking about it. So, where's the govenrments when the citizen need them? Not even a central government an also a regional government. It's so confusing living in this state. So, as a response to that condition, we have a movement to do something. Moreover, there was a dead case last 2 years ago. A malnutrition kid was died, and it was blown up in several national newspaper. This case made some regional health center supervisors were angry and ashamed. Yes, they should be. And after that, they started to care about this issue and walk hand in hand with us to solve the problem.

Well, my friends, please visit the website and walk with us!

The Class

2011-02-19T21:39:00.000+07:00

A plant in a bulb. I got this pic from google. I searched with a keyword "CSR". CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility. Yes, today is my first day lecturing CSR, the same with last year. I kinda excited because delivering this lecture is like asking people to do many good things. How come? Yea, because the essence of CSR is you be nice to other people. The difference is in the scope. If you do it personally, then you be a nice guy. When a company do it, then this is a nice company to work for. The company that running CSR program, is usually a good company, because they're not only focus on themselves but also take a good care of their surrounding community.

And i think i have a good class. They are PR 2008, and only 24 persons. They're mature enough to get a quite serious stuff like CSR. Even i got 2 leader of student council, isn't that great? many leaders in my class and i know it will be an awesome semester. I had a great time lecturing CSR last year and i know it will be much better this semester. Hopefully...

So, when you think CSR is just a sake of doing PR program for community and you think i'm going to say that to my students, then you're wrong. I will di my lecture differently. It's not just a matter of lecture. i want them to be involved in the process, bith individually and in comunity. Wait for our report next time, ok?

Jarkoni

2011-02-18T19:17:00.000+07:00

I'm telling you, this is a unique Javanese acronym. Maybe not all javanese people know about this. Jarkoni stands for iso ngaJAR ora iso nglaKONI. Means you can teach but cannot do. In english we called it NATO (No Action Talk Only).

And this picture is a good example of that. Government has released a new act that contained about several punishment for people who use handphone while driving or riding a motocycle. But, u see that, a policeman on his motocycle sending SMS! What a shame! He didn't show example to citizen, while his job is giving ticket to those who break that rule.

This is Jarkoni. This is NATO!

Logay

2011-02-17T21:50:00.000+07:00

Malam menyergap di gegap gempita Jakarta yang padat merayap. Sudah lebih dari jam 8 malam dan tampaknya belum ada tanda-tanda kota metropolis ini akan beristirahat. Bagi sebagian orang, jam segini mungkin baru akan ON lagi untuk aktivitas malam yang lebih menggelora. Tapi bagiku, hari ini cukup sudah. Aku hanya ingin pulang.

Serpong yang berjarak 33 kilometer dari kantor semakin hari terasa semakin jauh. Kereta KRL ekonomi yang mengangkut diriku dan ribuan orang malam ini berjalan berderik-derik seperti kehabisan nafas. Entah ada gangguan apa lagi, aku tak tahu. Sudah sering terjadi hingga para penumpang 'terpaksa' memaklumi dan... yah, mau apa lagi? Tak ada pilihan yang lebih baik. Naik bis atau bawa mobil bisa lebih parah diterkam macet yang makin menggila. Naik motor? Dulu pernah, tapi hanya bertahan 2 bulan karena setelah itu terserang flu dan sesak napas. Jadilah aku kini personel 'roker', alias rombongan kereta yang menggantungkan nasib transportasi pada si ular besi setiap hari, demi sesuap nasi yang kuterima dari gaji.

Tapi hatiku sedang riang malam ini. Begitu gembira hingga aku ingin melompat-lompat di kereta kumuh ini. Tapi kucoba menahan diri, tentu saja tidak bisa kulakukan kebiasaanku melompat-lompat seperti saat aku di rumah. Akhirnya aku hanya senyum-senyum sendiri. Orang akan berpikir aku gila seperti lelaki kumal yang berulangkali tertawa terbahak-bahak sendiri di sudut kereta. Ah, biarkan saja orang mau bilang apa. Celingak-celinguk kulihat tak ada pun orang yang kukenal. Lantunan suara sumbang pengamen cilik dengan petikan ukulelenya persis di depanku membuat hatiku makin berbunga-bunga. Ia bersenandung lagu "kekuatan cinta kita takkan pernah rapuh//terhapus ruang dan waktu//percayakan kesetiaan ini//akan tulus a a ai aishiteru"... Ia bernyanyi dengan gaya agak berlebihan namun lucu... aku menyebutnya logay alias loba gaya (loba=banyak, bahasa Sunda). Tak tahan aku untuk tidak tertawa.

Jatuh cinta? Tidak, aku tak sedang jatuh cinta. Ah, atau mungkin iya, tapi tidak seperti yang engkau pikirkan. Bukan jatuh cinta kepada seseorang, tetapi kepada pengalaman. Ah, mengada-ada. Tapi sungguh. Malam ini baru saja kuikuti sebuah selebrasi sederhana dengan teman-teman sekantor. Kumpul-kumpul selepas kerja yang melelahkan seperti malam ini memang jarang dilakukan, tapi begitu terjadi bisa sangat mencerahkan. Seperti malam ini, sambil mengudap nasi goreng dan snack ringan, kami berbagi cerita tentang pengalaman mengayuh kehidupan di Sinar Mas. Cerita-cerita ringan yang terlepas dari kesadaran kita sendiri karena dimakan rutinitas sehari-hari.

Viana (nama asli, tapi bukan nama depan yang sebenarnya), sama denganku ia sudah 8 tahun di SMART. Ia bercerita tentang pengalaman shooting lagu "Our Shared Values" yang cukup bikin deg-degan di atap lantai 39 Plaza BII. Tapi melihat hasilnya ia girang bukan kepalang. Apalagi setelah tahu lagu itu diputar di beberapa acara besar di tingkat perusahaan seperti conference. Siapa tidak bangga? dari sekedar menyanyi di kamar mandi, kini bisa nampang di DVD. Lumayan kan?

Tri (inisial sebenarnya), berkisah tentang perjalanannya di berbagai perusahaan Sinar Mas hingga berlabuh ke SMART. Di perusahaan ini, Tri menemukan 'jalan' baru. Dari sekretaris ia 'berganti haluan', bersusah payah belajar menjadi seorang desainer kreatif yang justru memberinya gairah bekerja lebih. Ia bersyukur diberi kesempatan mengeksplorasi potensi dan kemampuan dirinya.

Agung (nama sebenarnya), dulu pernah bekerja di divisi IT Sinar Mas dan kini berwiraswasta. Ia adalah kawan seperjuangan di proyek pembagian beras cinta kasih Tzu Chi beberapa tahun lalu. Masih segar dalam ingatan, kami menginap (lebih tepat disebut bergadang) di gudang desa Srijaya Karawang untuk menjaga 2000 karung beras untuk dibagikan keesokan harinya. Hari pembagian beras berlangsung hampir rusuh oleh warga yang berdesak-desakan riuh. Alhamdulillah hari-hari menegangkan itu selesai. Peluh dan kantuk tak sebanding dengan kebahagiaan yang kami rasakan karena membantu sesama. Yap, Sinar Mas telah memberi kami kesempatan untuk beramal sosial secara langsung dengan proses yang unik dan menakjubkan. Pun kami merasakan manfaat dengan saling mengenal antar divisi yang di waktu normal amat jarang bertemu karena terpisah oleh lantai kantor yang berbeda. Di sini, kami semua sama, bekerja sosial untuk masyarakat yang tidak mampu. Di sini kebanggan itu muncul di saat melihat Pak Franky dan Pak Daud berbaur bersama memanggul beras di pundak dengan peluh bercucuran. Inilah pemimpin-pemimpin perusahaan kita. Bahkan Agung pun, sebagai alumni perusahaan ini, masih lekat akan pengalaman yang menginspirasi tersebut.

Jadi bagaimana dengan aku? Aku... lanjutkan besok yaa

Ruang Bermain

2011-02-16T21:25:00.000+07:00

Lapangan ini mengingatkanku akan sesuatu. Nun jauh di kampung halaman, lebih dari 20 tahun yang lalu, aku menemukan lapangan yang mirip dengan yang terpampang di foto ini. Sebuah lapangan yang tak kan pernah kulupakan.

Namanya lapangan Ketileng, depan masjid AlMaghfur, Sendangmulyo Semarang. Lapangan itu hanya berjarak 300 meter dari sekolahku, SD Sendangmulyo 3-4 Ketileng Semarang. Sekolah inilah yang membesarkan aku dan adik-adikku. Enam tahun lamanya masing-masing dari kami mengenyam pendidikan dasar di sekolah ini.

Tiap hari Jumat, murid yang muslim sembahyang Jumat di masjid Al Maghfur ini. Masjid yang tidak terlalu besar itu pasti penuh dengan anak-anak SD, yang datang Jumatan dengan membawa buku catatan Sholat Jumat yang dibagikan oleh sekolah. Entah kenapa, aku senang sekali mencatat khotbah Jumat, sementara aku tahu banyak teman-temanku yang mengabaikannya. Sudah lama kusadari, catat-mencatat dan tulis-menulis memang kusukai sejak kecil dulu. Sekali lagi, entah mengapa kutak tahu sebabnya...

Di depan masjid Al Maghfur ada sebuah TK, aku lupa namanya, yang memiliki lapangan yang gambarnya cukup mirip dengan gambar yg ada di foto ini. Aku tidak bersekolah di TK itu, tidak. Tapi aku sering ke situ karena ada tempat bermain yang sering kupakai sarananya, seperti balok keseimbangan, ayunan, jungkat-jungkit, bak pasir, dan lain-lain. Aku suka sekali bermain di situ. Sekolah SD ku tidak ada mainan-mainan itu. Sementara aku kurang bahagia bersekolah di TK, karena hanya beberapa bulan bersekolah di TK kecil di daerah Genuk, lalu 'dipaksa' melompat ke SD kelas 1. So, aku tak kenyang mengenyam pendidikan TK dan mainan-mainan serunya. Jadilah masa TK ku kurang bahagia hahaha...

Di dekat TK itu ada lapangan dengan banyak pohon. Di daerah situlah aku dan teman-temankiu kerap bermain 'bentengan'. Ini adalah permainan tradisional anak2 yg intinya adalah bagaimana kita mempertahankan benteng kita dan sekaligus berusaha merebut benteng lawan. Jika dimainkan oleh banyak anak, permainan ini seru sekali. Saat ini, setelah kupikir-pikir, permainan sederhana ini mendidik banyak hal: kebugaran jasmani karena seringnya berlari-lari mengejar dan dikejar lawan, mengasah otak karena ada strategi yang harus dipikirkan untuk merebut benteng lawan, serta tentu saja persahabatan, yang mempersatukan kami dalam bentuk permainan jenis apa pun. Permainan hanyalah permainan, nothing taken seriously. Saat bermain kita berkompetisi, selesai bermain berteman lagi. Tidak seperti permainan sepakbola saat ini, perang di dalam stadion berlanjut ke perang di jalan-jalan... mengganggu orang saja...

Gambar di foto itu adalah lapangan di Masjid Al Madani, di dalam kompleks Kencana Loka. Lapangan ini mengingatkanku akan masa kecilku dulu. Lapangan ini, kini juga sedang menjalin memori bagi puluhan anak-anak dan remaja yang sering bermain bola di lapangan dan belajar mengaji di masjid. Seperti aku, suatu saat mereka akan mengingat bahwa kenikmatan belajar terletak pada proses informal yang mengiringinya, bukan hanya pada kenangan kaku akan bangku dan kursi di dalam kelas sahaja...

Maulid

2011-02-15T21:14:00.001+07:00

Maulid means the born. Today is Mauild of Prophet Muhammad SAW and it's a special day for moslem. Muhammad is our greatest Prophet, the end of prophets that God had sent to the world. In Arabic calendar, Muhammad was born on 12 rabiul Awal 576 AD in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He was born without a father, because Abdullah, his father died months before his born. He lived with his mother Aminah and his big family until his mother died when he was 6 year old. Muhammad was known with his good quality character since he was young. People in Mecca called him Al Amin, meant the trusted one. Before 40 he spent his life as a businessman, helping his wife Siti Khadijah. At 40, he got the first message from Allah. HIS first order was Iqro', meant read. This message had a deep meaning that Muhammad and the people should have always 'read' and learned from HIS knowledge which stated everywhere, in his HOLY book or in HIS creatures.

So, today I celebrated this special day by helping the Al Madani Islamic School in my neighborhood to organize a series of contest among kids. These kids are the students of teh schools which organized by housewives in this area. In the last 2 months, i helped them to revitalize the schools into a new form. Thanks Allah everything goes well and they can self-organized everything in this holy activities.

Well, in that picture, you can see one of the contest. The students has to arrange the Arabic alphabet into the right order. For 7-10 year old kids, it is a challenging activity. For me, it is fun and meaningful, while i remember the life of Prophet Muhammad SAW.

Leadershi*

2011-02-14T08:41:00.000+07:00

You can replace the (*) with any letter you want. Ordinary people complete it with 'p', so it called leadership. People in Mesir maybe chose 't', so it will be leadershit :D .. Yeah, they are people who really wanna vomit when they talk about President or Hosni Mubarak, the dictator who ruled Mesir for 30 years.

Mubarak is among many world leaders who have bad ending in their governance era. I believe we remember Hitler the fuhrer from Germany, Mussolini from Italy, King Jayanegara from Majapahit, and Soeharto from Indonesia. They met irony in their last leading time. Hitler committed suicide, Mussolini and Jayanegara were killed, and Soeharto is like Mubarak, facing coup d'etat and had to step down from his presidentship. For us, they are like leadershi* with 't'. They brought huge disasters to huge number of people.

Once i read an article about "there are no schools which teach dictatorship or leadershit, they only taught leadership, but world is always come up with many dictators or bad leaders all the time." Why? Do we really lack or good leaders now? Even in a Harvard Business Review article I read that continuity of leadership is really a very very significant issue for any company in the world. We often heard about a big companies that faces a breakdown or declining performance after being left by their brilliant CEOs. For example: IBM after Lou Gestetner, Microsoft after Bill Gates, Apple after Steve Jobs, and etc. So, why these super CEO can not multipky their super competencies and quality characters?

Well, enough. Now I'm going to tell you about that picture. It was a meeting of Prasasti Leadership Forum, a small forum from Ikastara (Ikatan Alumni SMA Taruna Nusantara) which just been launched on last friday, 11 feb 2011. Its purpose is to nurture many leadership talents among Ikastara members. Hopefully, it will be really generating many good quality leaders...
Hopefully... Amin

Collaborative Creativity

2011-02-13T21:55:00.000+07:00

Two thumbs up for this book. Djenar Maesa Ayu has reached a new high standard by her new creation "1 perempuan 14 laki-laki", or 1 woman 14 men. I heard about this book from twitter, twitted by some of public figure who later i knew them as co-writers of the book, like sudjiwo tedjo, indra herlambang, butet kertarajasa, and etc.
What makes me interested is the process of making this book. This book consists of 14 short stories which Djenar wrote with her colleagues, 14 extraordinary men who widely known in their business. At first she wrote with Agus Noor, her friend and also a writer. At first they didn't really know the concept of the book, and then later they decided the concept of the book is writing with no concept. They agreed to write continuously one after another. One sentence and then continued by the other, until all the story completed. Can you imagine that? Djenar said it was not an easy process. Writing a story by oneself is difficult, and you can imagine she did it with two heads. Sometimes their plot is different to each other, one thought about A and the other about B. That's why the initiatin process is very important. Djenar said that the process is like two people having close relationship and falling in love to each other. They have to have a special connectivity, and that's how it makes the creativity and connection flowing between them. Once she found a connectivity, she fet like she had an orgasm (ooops...).
Well, i called this as a collaborative creativity from outstanding people. I appreciate the unique process, eventhough i can't really understand the content. When I read it, in some part i still can define two different ideas in one story, not yet blended perfectly. But maybe it's its value, its selling factor. Reader will enjoy the process of imagining the writing process while they read the story, and somehow they will understand if there's some imperfections from the nearly perfect collaboration. Cool, eh?

Angkringan

2011-02-12T20:57:00.000+07:00

Tonight i was stunned by this place. It is in Granada Square, near my house, about 1 km far. I never realize that there is an Angkringan in this place. Really don't. It's interesting for me because I know this Angkringan so good since I was a little kid in my hometown Central Java or Magelang, and Jogjakarta. It's also because i have written about Cat Rice or sego kucing before, which is, if you can see, sold at Angkringan. But yes i forgot to write that Cat Rice and Angkringan is indispensable to each other. It's a true couple, like husband and wife. Cat Rice usually sells at Angkringan, it's like a must-have menu there.

Angkringan is like a small-traditional meal shop that sells small-traditional meal like Cat Rice, Red Rice (sego abang), Mixed Rice (Rames), etc. You can find Angkringan along the road in Central Java and Jogjakarta, especially in afternoon to midnight. The food price is cheap, that's why many people like it, from becak driver to college students. In Jogja, sometimes public figures are seen around Angkringan too. It's like cafe, a nice place to talk about anything, a public space which connect people from many backgrounds. They gather and discuss about anything they wanna discuss; politics, life, jokes, soccer, etc.

There was a nice article in Kompas about years ago which informed about Angkringan. In Jogja and Central Java, Angkringan was transforming to become more modern public space. Now you easily can find hot spot at Angkringan. People, usually students, come to Angkringan and immediately open their laptop and use the headset to listen to some music. Discussion is less happen.

Well, sooner or later, something will change eventually. There's nothing constant in life except change. It's inevitable, though sometimes it happen in circle. You somehow find the same things happen again and again after time flies. That is, i called the system...

SITTI (1)

2011-02-11T08:21:00.000+07:00

I found something new today. It's called SITTI. At first I thought it's a woman's name, like Sitti Nurbaya, Sitti Markonah, or something. But, in fact it is a Indonesia-based contextual advertising platform. Check http://www.sitti.co.id. It's a new product, launch in November 2010. The owner is Andy Sjarif, an Indonesian technopreneurfrm Jakarta. I just knew that Andi is the nephew of almarhum Harry Roesli. Andi is a PhD from US, i forgot what major, but might be related to information technology. My company has accidentally related with Andi from his company Mediatrac.

In some media like kompas.com and detik.com, Andi said that Sitti is better than Google Adsense, a famous online advertising application from Google. Andi said that it will be Google's toughest competitor in Indonesia. Well, he challenges Google. How confidence he is, eh?

So, I have signed up this morning. My SITTI ID is AC0003268. I don't know yet about this SITTI, but it seems tempting. Let's see...

Cobble Hill

2011-02-10T08:06:00.000+07:00

Remember this map & pictures, and I remember that day. 10 years ago I started a brand new life by joining Canada World Youth (CWY) program, going from my lovely hometown in Semarang to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada for almost 4 months. In bahasa, we call this program as PPIK (Pertukaran Pemuda Indonesia Kanada). In Vancouver Island, I stayed with my host father, Prof Michael Zarb, in a small town named Cobble Hill. Look at the map. The Island you see is Vancouver Island, and Cobble Hill is in the south part of the island, almost close to Seattle, USA.

Cobble Hill is a small community on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is located approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of Victoria in the Cowichan Valley Regional District, and is known for its agricultural surroundings, and for Cobble Hill itself, which gave the village its name. According to the 2006 census, there are 1,775 people living in Cobble Hill.

The town features many hiking trails and paths cover the hills and forests of this area, which is well-known for its mountain biking opportunities. More recently the area has become famous for its vineyards, which have won awards for their wines. The settlement is served by the Via Rail Victoria – Courtenay train.

Parts of the 1994 version of Little Women from the novel by Louisa May Alcott were filmed here (source: wikipedia).

The center picture remembered me how small the town. It's quiet and calm, not much crowd here and there. The only crowd I've joined was Cobble Hill Fall Fair, which is I volunteered for the event. It's a farmer's exhibition with some funny games for villagers. Modest but fun.

The right picture will never be wiped out from my mind. It's a grocery store (hypermarket like Giant or Carrefour) which I used to go to kill my bored and start dreaming about having something hahaha... really, I brought only a little money so I can't really buy anything i want. But by watching many good stuff @ Country Grocer, I felt enough. Sometimes I accompanied my host papa to shop some stuffs there. I remembered one time we bought amazingly delicious mushroom pizza. Yummyy...

Well, time flies so fast, and it's been 10 years now. I don't know how Cobble Hill is doing now. Last year I emailed Michael and he's fine, thank God for that. I guess i would like to do something to remember the program, maybe by making a book about that. Hmmm, yes, i should do that!

A7

2011-02-09T07:38:00.000+07:00

It' just a piece of paper, we make it from a A4 standard paper and rip it to 8. We can make it from used paper, so we use the opposite side which still blank. The question is what for?

Well, this small piece of paper is one of the most useful tools for me to communicate, especially in the events/meetings. Everytime I organize them, I use this thing to write my intentions/order/request to my partner or client, instead of directly talking to them in the middle of the meeting. It's simple and efficient. Somehow I just write something with the format "To: xxx ; Message: ... ; Regards: DAN " and give it to the messenger, and he/she will give it to the intended person. The person then answer it in the same way.

I got this tips from my office in BRAIN, and it's almost been everyone behavior here. I heard that Mahathir Mohammad, former Malaysian Prime Minister, did the same thing. He used to have this piece of paper in his pocket, and used it like I did. Well, I kinda proud to know that.

But you know, eventhough it's simple, but sometimes i forget to bring it. When I need it, i have to ask my friend's A7. Some of my friends who good at administrative work always prepare a lot of A7 in front of his/her desk, so whenever they need, they just grab it easily.

So, small tips from a small thing in a BIG wednesday morning :)

Demi Masa

2011-02-08T21:48:00.000+07:00

Demi masa
Sesungguhnya manusia (dalam) kerugian...
Melainkan, (bagi mereka) yang beriman dan beramal sholeh...

Ingatlah kesempatan yang masih diberi, agar kita tidak menyesal...
masa usia kita, jangan dilengahkan, karena ia takkan berpaling...

Muda sebelum tua,
Kaya sebelum miskin,
Lapang sebelum sempit,
Sehat sebelum sakit,
Hidup sebelum mati...

(Raihan)

That's the song that always remind me about the time. Time is precious, God give it to us with the same amount for every person in the world, 24 hours. With the same amount of time, only few people can be success and reach their dream. But many of them fail and lose, living only as ordinary people which have no specific vision and therefore can't get meaning in their life...

This is a clock, which always remind of time...

Cat Rice

2011-02-07T08:00:00.000+07:00

Haha, you know what it is, eh? It's a Cat Rice or Nasi Kucing in bahasa Indonesia. It's a name for small size rice with small number of its side dishes, like tofu, egg, rice vermicelli (bihun), chilli, fried tempeh, fish, meat, crackers (kerupuk), etc. Everything is in small sizes, small enough for human but big enough for cat. That's why they call it rice cat or nasi kucing.

People in Central Java used to call it sego kucing, sego means nasi in Javanese. This food is very famous there. Somewhere somewhen they call it becak rice, or sego becak. It means the same; rice with many small side dishes. And you know, the price is also cheap. One package of cat rice in the picture is only Rp 5000. In my hometown Semarang it's only Rp 3000. It's really an affordable price for folks like me, for tukang becak, tukang ojek, angkot driver, students, etc. They can eat it in only three or four times eating and finish. Simple and quick. That is nasi kucing!

Find Understanding

2011-02-06T21:56:00.000+07:00

Look at this picture, i wanna share about this tonight. This is the answer sheets of my students final exam that i have to check them. I just finished 2 packs of answer sheets and still 4 more. So, i guess it will be a long night for me.

Well, days before some of my students contact me about their exam's result. Some of them really wanna get A for this and push me to give it to them. I laughed at myself to hear that. Students are always attracted with marks: A, B,C, D, or E. It was just like me couple years ago. Exactly the same. It was nonsense if students didn't do that. They are told and trained to be result oriented. They are told that GPA is the most important in their life and they have to fight for it whatever it takes. Marks become the king of everything...

So, i suddenly remember the movie "Social Network", it's about the story of Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook phenomenon. This movie mostly told about the days when Zuckerberg lived as student in Harvard. It seems that he was not so serious about his study, eventhough he was a brilliant student. His days was full of experiment of his passion: computer and programming. It seemed that he met his life not in the 'boring' class but in front of his laptop, until the day he launched Facebook.

If i compared Zuckerberg with Indonesian students, honestly there was a big gap in that. Our students are looking for good GPA, graduate as fast as possible, and get the job immediately. It seemed that they have no passion in studying. They study because they have to or because the are told to do so by their parents, or by their fear of can not have a job in their life. The case like Zuckerberg is very rare in our student's life. That's eventhough we have thousands of bright students, we're lack of inventor and innovator. Bright students will only be rotten in high buildings and government labs without real innovations.

So, to all students of the world, find your understanding, not only knowledge or GPA. You guys are the students of life, not some institutional education or title master.

Gowes

2011-02-05T18:46:00.000+07:00

This morning i suddenly woke up with a little dizzy. I went home late last night for an 'amazing' weekly tennis exercise in Jakarta. I will tell you the story later.

And this morning i remembered I had an appointment with Pak Purnama and my neighbors to go out for cycling or we called it "gowes". And precisely at 6:30 Pak Purnama came to my house and asked me to go. After finishing my morning stuffs, I took The Red and heading to our trailway with Pak Purnama and Pak Parlin. Yes, today was just three of us. No one else. pak Boed BMW can't go, Pak Budi RW was still sleepy, Pak Yuzet had family need, and I didn't know the others.

So, our trip started from Kencana Loka to Griya Loka, Kolam renang 1-3, Putra Dalima, Puspita Loka, Eka Hospital, Sinar Mas World Academy, and Foresta. Until this, all was clear and funny. But, after we took the way to Pagedangan through the mud area backside Foresta, the 'hell' was coming. It's rainy since the morning, the street was wet, and that mud area was worst. We can't ride the bike so we walk beside it. And in the middle of it, my bike's tyre didn't wanna move. So many mud there. So, finally i have to carry my bike on my shoulder, walking with my shoes full of mud. Fiuhh, the longest 100 metres road hehe...

And after that, we tried to clean up our bike with anything, wood, stone, any water in the street, etc. At first we planned to go to Cihuni, but considering this condition, we dropped that plan and moved to the opposite direction. We no longer found a trailway, but wa wanted a nice breakfast. pak Boedi BMW said there was a small restaurant that sell a nice Rib Soup nearby, so we went for it. It was spit raining but we already dirty and wet, so ever forward never backward. And finally we arrived to the small village-look restaurant and ordered 2 Rib Soup. And it was a tasty one. Love it, especially after having a 'hell' of a unforgettable gowes experience...

Thanks for Pak Pur & Pak Parlin for today's amazing experience!

Train Masters (3)

2011-02-04T08:33:00.000+07:00

Morning at Train Station Tanah Abang. Today is Friday, and it's a 'kejepit' or wedged day. Yesterday was a holiday, Chinese New Year. Tomorrow is weekend, so basically this Friday is an awkward day for work. I believe 'smart' people choose not to come to work and get their permission or on leave, so they'll have 4 days holiday, yummy...

But, in fact my assumption is not 100% correct. Today is still a busy day, at least at train station. The train i get to work is still full of people going to work, just like me. Maybe they don't like holiday on wedged day, or maybe their on leave day is over, just like me hehe...

So, that was the picture i took this morning in Station Tanah Abang. A lot of people are trying to go out of the gate and spread out to anywhere. I did this too every morning. So, train is the 'real' public transport, especially for lower class folks. They went to Jakarta everyday for working in the morning from their hometown like Rangkas Bitung, Merak, Bekasi, Bogor, Depok, Serpong, or any towns around Jakarta. Train is the only cheap transport for them. If the train has problem, then they have problem because they can't work, and they can't get paid, and they have no money for their family, so quite dangerous, eh?

Well, till now i'm still wondering, why government doesn't make this public transport better and reliable? Why are there so many problems with train, until today, while so many expert are working in the transport department?

I have no idea...

Shaolin

2011-02-03T19:55:00.000+07:00

I wasn't intended to watch this movie. It was spontaneous when my wife and I hung out t Lippo mall Karawaci, after seeking to some textbooks for her school. Failed to find what we wanted, then we moved to the Cinema 21 and chose to watch Shaolin. I thought it was contextual with today's theme: New Chinese Lunar New Year... The interesting part was, there were two Cinemas here, Cinema 21 and Cinema XX1, only separated by a wall.

At first, i imagined it would be like other Chinese movie, like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or other Jackie Chan's movies. Yes, this movie starred by Jackie Chan as a supporting actor, and Andy Lau as the main actor. Two Hongkong movie stars which guaranteed this movie would be interesting to see. In fact, not much people coming to the cinema. It was only half-full.

Then, after two hours watching, i realized that this movie was different. It was a sad ending movie with many touching scenes. It was not only sell Shaolin's Kungfu with its strong fists and kicks, but also showed many emotional actions in almost the whole story. Andy Lau, as Huo Chieh, was a sadisctic General who was betrayed by Tsao man, his trusted 'wing' man. Tsao Man tried to kill him and his family, then he escaped to Shaolin temple. His family was broken, he lost his daughter and his wife left him. Then he become a Shaolin monk (bhiksu), while in attempting to fight back to Tsao Man. There were a lot of amazing traditional Kungfu practices, as I imagined about Shaolin temple. The temple was located in a high lands, with many monks learning unique and popular physical exercise like walking with hands, finger moves, etc.

The rest of the story was tragedy. Almost all of the main actors were died; Huo Chieh, The Chief of the Temple and his 4 senior students, except Jackie Chan, who in this film become 'nobody'. He acted as a cook in the temple with funny personality. Movie Director Benny Chan put him to give a light comedy actions in this movie, among many serious-sad-bloody scenes.

Well, I got a lot of lessons from this movie. First, always give blessings to others and you will be blessed, like what were shown by the monks who helped anybody who come to the temple without seeing their background. Second, humanity is above all interest, because at the end of the day, we all just human, and human helps each others. At this moment, it seemed himanity is expensive and rare, especially in big city like Jakarta where people only care about themselves. Third, when you fail, don't forget to always get up. The key to success is to fail 7 times and get up eight times, said Paulo Coelho in his amazing book, The Alchemist. Fourth, it's for me, I amazed with monk's physical fitness and agility. I felt that I'm so weak and unhealthy now. Seeing this movie gives me spirit to really get my strength back.

So, I hope it's not too late to say: Gong Xi Fat Choi, Xi Nian Kuai Le, Happy Lunar New Year!

Short Story

2011-02-02T21:11:00.000+07:00

We called it cerpen in bahasa Indonesia. It means cerita pendek atau short story. This is my topic today because I wanna be able to write a cerpen so badly. I have written countless articles (non-fiction) but i never wrote any cerpen so far.

Well, i tried couple times to write a cerpen, but most likely failed. I don't really know why. At first I thought the story was brilliant, the character were awesome. But, after a while writing, i felt bored and it didn't grow like what i want.

I admired productive short writer like Gus tf Sakai, or Dewi Lestari, or Gunawan Mohamad. They could write a beautiful cerpen. Short but rich of meaning and plot, sometimes unpredictable ending. Awesome! I used to read their cerpen in Kompas at Sunday couple years ago. I loved to read a short story and told it to others, especially kids. I guest i am a story teller than a story writer. I knew that's my strenth, but still, i wanna be a story writer too. You know, somehow i think to be a story writer is not difficult, i frequently read short stories in Tzu Chi magazine, they were simple but meaningful... So, i will be able to do it. The question is how?

Well, guys, do you have any idea how to do it? please share with me...

Thanks, and Happy New Lunar Year! Gong Xi Fat Choi!

Orange

2011-02-01T18:23:00.000+07:00

Today is an orange day. We see a lot of orange fruit in Finance division, and actually we want some. Somebody said that they get the fruit from suppliers or vendors. How lucky they are. Then Ardian and Daniel are bravely come to their place and ask for any fruit left. And they got it, bravo zulu to them!

Well, actually days ago I asked a question via Facebook "why Chinese New Year is identical with orange fruit, especially Lokam?" Well, many people answer, including some of friends i office. From this source http://food.detik.com/read/2011/01/25/164527/1554287/482/jeruk-lokam-buah-wajib-saat-imlek?881104284, I get the real answer.

Orange, or Chi Zhe in Mandarin language, has a special meaning in Chinese culture. Chi means fortune or luck, and Zhe means fruit. So, orange is lucky fruit. So, when you provide many orange fruits in Chinese New Year, it means you expect many fortunes coming to you. Moreover, Lokam orange is preferable, because its color is shiny orange or yellow. It symbolizes gold and wealth. Hopefully, next year will bring success and prosperity. Amen...

That's why they love orange tree with many orange fruits on it, so many luck will come. Beside that, Lokam orange usually means harmony in family, because it grows together in unity. That's why we see many orange trees (sometimes with angpao) when Chinese New Year come.

Cai cien...

Train Masters (2)

2011-01-31T08:06:00.000+07:00

Here was another Train Master. I took this picture yesterday on my way back home from ESB event in Jakarta. I went home by afternoon economic-class train in a hot weather Jakarta, with no Air Conditioner (AC) and no door. Yes, the train's doors were all gone. Why they took take? Because in busy hour, many many many people come in to the train to go anywhere and they thought it was difficult to enter and to go out from the train. So, they let the doors open all the time. I'll take the picture for you later.

Back to the Train Master. This is a young boy, about 8 years old, wearing Indonesian football jersey red and white short. He came to the train and stand in the corner, right in front of me. He seemed difficult to carry his cassette tape player, sling it on one of his shoulder. His right left carried a microphone, and his right one carried a plastic to collect money from passengers. I barely hear his singing because it was very noisy, although he was right in front of me. Or maybe he just sang in a low voices. I didn't know.

Well, living in Jakarta is tough, we know that. Even for a small kid like him. At his age, I was playing happily with my friends in my hometown, and he had to start working to help his parents, or maybe just to be able to eat for that day. I don't know whether he go to school or not, or maybe already drop out because he can't pay the tuition fee. And believe me, maybe hundred thousands of kids like him in Jakarta, with no hope for their future. Or maybe they never dream about that.

So, let's share our ideas, what can we do to help them?

Change

2011-01-30T21:45:00.001+07:00

I'm not talking about 'change' in terms of scientific or managerial. It's literally change. In bahasa Indonesia is ganti. Ganti or change is the main theme of today's acticity. I joined in an ESB (Employee Selling Blitz) organized by my workplace Smartfren. It is held in Central Jakarta, Jalan MH Thamrin and Sudirman. This Sunday is Car-Free day, that's why we pick this moment to launch our new product Lokal Plus. Ganti, Ganti, Ganti... is our tagline today. It means we ask people to change their SIM or RUIM Card, from anything to Lokal Plus from Smartfren.

Well, today's event make me happy and sad in the same time. Happy because I can participate in company's event, and sad because i don't make a good selling. Yes, thousands of people there but it is so difficult to sell. Of course, people go to that area for jogging, walking with their family, biking, sight-seeing, and not merely wanna buy handphone or modem. Yes, the marketing idea to use this Car-Free day moment is brilliant, so people aware about the product. But, it is for myself, I'm not quite satisfied with my sales result. It's the 3rd ESB, and I used to have revenue, average from 1st and 2nd ESB, is Rp 4 mio. Today i get less than 1 mio. Once again, maybe the selling process is not the main purpose, but still, it's my personal pride.

Anyway, the product is amazingly awesome. I bought 5 for myself which i would give to my family. Go check http://www.smart-telecom.co.id or http://www.mobile-8.com for futher information.

Don't forget to change your number... So long...

Kalap

2011-01-29T21:48:00.000+07:00

Tonight I went to Carrefour ITC BSD and i saw an intersting thing happened. In fruit corner, there was a chaos. Many people gathering around an orange table and they and grabbed the fruit immediately when the servants came with the box f the fruit. What happened? Well, later that night i found out that there was a big sale for orange fruit, regarding Imlek Celebration. Only pay 4000 rupiahs and you'll get 1 kg of fresh orange fruit. I called it "Kalap Buying". Kalap is a word in Bahasa to express a rush condition to do something.

Kalap buying is now become a fever in Indonesia. You can meet people kalap in buying some products which sold in special event like Midnight Sale, Jakarta Great Sale, Clearance Sale, or any kind of sales in Jakarta's shopping mall. For instance, last year, there was a chaos happened in EX and Plaza Indonesia when Crocs products had a midnight sale. Crocs is a famous footwear with unique design and expensive prize. I don't know why people are crazy about that product. But it was teh result of their marketing and PR strategy. Make something unique and you'll quickly get people attention!

Well, tomorow we'll see that strategy if it'll work for Smartfren's new product "Lokal Plus".
Adios amigos, gotta go... nighty night!

Crystal Clear

2011-01-28T08:11:00.000+07:00

It's crystal clear, like a water, some people said. Crystal clear means very very clear, like water we drink everyday. Do you know the miracles of drinking water? It's a lot of them. According to http://forum.detik.com, there are 6 benefits of drinking water:
1. Balancing the fluid in our body
2. To control the calorie
3. To 'energize' the muscles
4. Brighten our skin
5. To keep our kidney healthy
6. To keep our intestines healthy

Well, Prophet Muhammad SAW once said that he only drank a lot of water in order to get him always healthy. Here is an interesting articles i got from http://www.mangosteen-natural-remedies.com/benefits-of-drinking-water.html :

"The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on body size. A rule of thumb, 2/3 of body is consists of water, and it is the main component of human body. Did you know that your tissues and organs are mainly made up of water? Here is the %:

Muscle consists of 75% water
Brain consists of 90% of water
Bone consists of 22% of water
Blood consists of 83% water

The functions of water in human body are vital. The water:

Transpsort nutrients and oxygen into cells
Moisturizes the air in lungs
Helps with metabolism
Protect our vital organ
Helps our organs to absorb nutrients better
Regulates body temperature
Detoxifies
Protect and moisturizes our joints

Every cell in your body needs water from head to toe. That is why it is so important to drink enough fluid. Take for example, brain consists of 90% of water, if you do not supply enough water to your body, your brain cannot function well, and you will get headache or migraine. Hence, next time, if you feel fatigue and headache, it may be the sign of dehydration."

Symptoms of Dehydration

Here are some of the symptoms that you need more water:

Dark Urine – Dark Yellow or Orange in Color: Urine is generally pale yellow to clear when you have sufficient water intake. Dark color or smell strong indicates that you need to drink more water.
Dry Skin: Skin is the largest body organ and requires its share of water.
Thirst: Thirst is the most obvious sign that you're already dehydrated. It is always a good practice to drink more water when your are not thirsty, don’t wait until you're thirsty.
Hunger: Most people mistaken hungry is the indication to eat more, whereas in actual fact, you may be dehydrated. So before you have your meal, grab a glass of water.
Fatigue: Water is a source of enegy, give you a boost in energy.

How much water should you drink a day to avoid dehydration? A common approach is drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

So, let's have more drink start today!!

Honey

2011-01-27T13:28:00.000+07:00

Hello honey! It's literally honey, not 'honey' like we used to call our someone special.
Yesterday, unexpectedly, I had a call from Pak Jainuddin. He is father of Dina Nitia, 2 years old, my patient from Tzu Chi program. Dina has been operated last month in Eka Hospital, and Pak Jainuddin's family seemed very thankful to me, eventhough actually Tzu Chi who helped his daughter. Thanks Tzu Chi for involving me in helping people.

Well, then I'll talk about honey. According to wikipedia, honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. Honey is very sweet, it has a long history of human consumption and is used in various foods and beverages as a sweetener and flavoring. The main uses of honey are in cooking, baking, as a spread on bread, and as an addition to various beverages such as tea and as a sweetener in some commercial beverages. According to international food regulations, "honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance...this includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners".

Honey is good for medicine. For at least 2700 years, honey has been used by humans to treat a variety of ailments through topical application, but only recently have the antiseptic and antibacterial properties of honey been chemically explained.

In Ayurveda which is at least 4000 years old medicine originating from India, honey is considered to affect positively in all three primitive material imbalances of the body. "Vaatalam guru sheetam cha raktapittakaphapaham| Sandhatru cchedanam ruksham kashayam madhuram madhu||" "It has sweetness with added astringent as end taste. It is heavy, dry and cold. Its effect on doshas (imbalances) is that it aggravates vata (air / moving forces), scrapes kapha (mucus / holding forces) and normalizes pitta (catabolic fire) and rakta (blood). It promotes healing process." In Islam, Rosul SAW also used honey as a medicine and to maintain health.

Well, because of its many beautiful things in honey, that's why people make analogy of honey to the person they love. Did you call ur love one honey (or people sometimes wrote hunny? If yes, that's because you saw that person was as sweet as honey, and cure your heart from sadness...

So, how are you, honey?

Train Masters (1)

2011-01-26T08:10:00.000+07:00

This morning I suddenly remembered going by many subways in Europe cities last years. Their mass transports, especially by subways or metro, were excellent. I could go anywhere in the city quickly and efficiently. I only paid couple bucks for a whole day transport to any destinations. Even going outside the city, like from Paris to Versailles. Only one hour and we could reach a small city near Paris. Cheap and easy. The subway tunnels were amazing, seemed they connected many departure/arrival points and to anywhere. Watchout, you could get lost in there...

And.. this morning i had a chance to take this picture (shown above). It's totally different from what i remembered about metros or subways. That is a train in Indonesia, mostly like that. That train we call it Langsam or Rangkas Bitung. Yellow color is the trademark. It is moving as slow as a lazy elephant, and very full of people inside. I connects Jakarta and Rangkas Bitung, a middle town in Banten. In the morning, thousand of people from Rangkas used this train to go to Jakarta to work, and get back in the evening. You see what's unique there? Yea, people who don't get any seat, they climb to the rooftop and sit there, and many of them do that. Dangerous? Of course! Uncountable numbers of people died because they fall down from the roof. And i believe most of them don't pay the ticket. How can the inspector check their ticket? Does he have to climb up there too? You kidding me...

Well, yeah... the train story is never ending... you'll get more from me later... gotta go now... see ya...

Swarm & COIN

2011-01-25T08:06:00.000+07:00

This morning i was stunned by a new concept called COIN (Collaborative Innovation network). The term COIN is very very familiar for me since I knew this name for almost 5 years. My company where I've been working for has a program named COIN too. But it stands for COrporate INtensification program.

The concept of COIN (Collaborative Innovation network) was introduced by Swarm Creativity. The originator of this concept was Peter A. Gloor from MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. Gloor said that COIN was a "cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by the Web to collaborate in achieving a common goal by sharing ideas, information, and work".

According to www.wikipedia.com, COINs feature internal transparency and direct communication. Members of a COIN collaborate and share knowledge directly with each other, rather than through hierarchies. They come together with a shared vision because they are intrinsically motivated to do so and seek to collaborate in some way to advance an idea.

The five essential elements of COINs are:
1. Evolve from learning networks
2. Feature sound ethical principles
3. Based on trust and self organization
4. Make knowledge accessible to everyone
5. Operate in internal honesty and transparency

Above picture is the example of how collaborative innovations work. JCR Licklider was a genius who first 'invent' about the internet. Then Vinton Cerf and David Clark made it work with 'create', collaborate' and 'communicate' the idea in their lab and community. Then 3Com and Cisco commercialized them and transformed the idea into money. Each person had their role and we respect them, but at the end of the day, the one who can monetize the idea would gain victory.

Does it sound fair to you? maybe not, but that's the way it works. Believe me...

Morning Lyrics

2011-01-24T08:14:00.000+07:00

Morning all...

This morning my friend at office sent a BB message on group. It was a beautiful poet that lighten my day today...
I share it to you below:

Hidup Tak Selamanya Berjalan Mulus...

• Butuh Batu Kerikil - supaya kita berHati-Hati
• Butuh Semak Berduri. - supaya kita Waspada
• Butuh Persimpangan - supaya kita Bijaksana dalam memilih
• Butuh Petunjuk Jalan - supaya kita punya Harapan tentang arah masa depan.
»Butuh Masalah - supaya kita tahu kita diberi kekuatan
» Butuh Pengorbanan - supaya kita tahu cara Bekerja Keras
» Butuh Airmata - supaya kita tahu meRendahkan Hati
» Butuh diCela - supaya kita tahu bagaimana Cara Menghargai
» Butuh Tertawa=)) - supaya kita tahu Mengucap Syukur
» Butuh Senyum:D - supaya kita tahu kita Punya Cinta
» Butuh Orang Lain - supaya kita tahu kita Tak Sendiri....
‎S̤̥̈̊є̲̣̥ Lά̲̣̣̣̥м̣̣̥̇̊ά̲̣̣̣̥τ̣̣̥

Pά̲̣̣̣̥G̲̣̣̣̥ɪ̣̝̇
Have a wonderful Monday....

Mini

2011-01-23T20:23:00.000+07:00

Small is beautiful. That's unconsciously coming in my mind over and over. Unconsciously, i pick many things that mini or small. My laptop, my car, and of course, my cute wife. Everthing small is simple and cool for me. Big is ugly, and somehow not sexy. The smaller the sexier hehehe...

I saw that car, Smart Fortwo, couple days ago in Plaza EX Jakarta, when I was walking with friends of mine. Before that, I saw it couple time ago in Bremen, Milan, Roma, Paris, and Granada. And a lot of them. And so many other type of small cars there, for two or 4 passengers.

I didn't expect to see those cars in Europe's street, what i imagined was big expensive cars everywhere. It turned out that they have more awareness on environment problem than us in Asia. When we started to argue about how expensive the gas could be in the future, and how Smart Fortwo will compete in Jakarta's busy street, Europe's countries has done with that. They acted faster than us. I proved it myself.

One of my friend like that Smart Fortwo, and it was a nice car with a nice design. But it has a flaw, the seat is only 2, so how it can be driven in Jakarta's main street which have 3-in-1 policy? Don't they think about that?

Whataver it is, mini cars will have their big time from now on. When govenrment start to run the gas policy soon, that's the tipping point for mini cars to get to the top of the list. Companies will have to review their transport policy, regarding the higher cost of it. And one of the solution is to replace the big cars with the small ones...

And i have done it earlier 3 years ago hahaha...

Cynefin (1)

2011-01-22T10:34:00.000+07:00

I have written two articles about Nonaka-Takeuchi and their SECI model. And i have known the model since i was in college and even i made it one of my research references when i took master degree. That model is like a holy book for KM thinker all over the world.

But today i re-read a email from my friend, Yudha, he told me that SECI model has a drawback and it was explained in Cynefin model. Cynefin is a Welsh word, mean a 'habitat' or place. No exact meaning actually, but those are the closest meaning. The model was created by Dave Snowden, a scientist and KM expert from Wales. First it was developed in 1999 when Dave was still working for IBM. It was first explained complex adaptive system then generalized it into knolwledge management system.

According to Wikipedia.com and google.com (from which i got the picture), Cynefin framework has 5 domains;

Simple (known) ; the relationship between cause and effect is obvious to all. We can learn from SOP, policies, ect. Pattern: Sense-Categorize-Respond
Complicated (knowable), the relationship between cause and effect needs analysis from the expert. We can do it by scenario planning, system thinking, etc. Pattern: Sense-Analyze-Respond
Complex ; the relationship between cause and effect can be developed by restrospection and not in advance. Pattern: Probe-Sense-Respond
Chaos ; no cause and effect relationships in at system level. Pattern: Act-Sense-Respond
Disorder ; not knowing what causality in this condition.

This model has been used widely to define complexity in the systems. By defining complexity, we can consider how we learn to adapt to the complexity and solve the problem. From the figure above we can see how many hours we have to spend to deal with each conditions.

Well, if i may say, this model describe better causality between cause and effect, two things that makes people learn and use their minds. I think this explain better how people learn than SECI model that only describe the relationship between tacit and explicit knowledge.

Am i right? What do you think?

Myster Y

2011-01-21T13:26:00.000+07:00

Last month, on my way by train to work, I saw a man playing rubick 3x3. He seemed enjoy and didn't care much about his surroundings. Sometimes he smiled by himself while his hands were goofing around the cube. But it seemed it didn't work, he couldn't solve it, but he kept smiling, and i didn't understand. the, 2 minutes before the train arrived at Tanah Abang station, suddenly and quickly he solved it. Well, my conclusion was he was already an expert of Rubick.

This Rubick thing has been a fenomena in my office like a year ago. Everybody played it, including Yasan, the security in my office. He actually really good at it. He told me that it had some pattern, and we have to follow creatively. He can solve it in only less than 1 minute. He said that world champion can solve it in less than 20 seconds. Amazing! I followed the trend, learned it from somebody at office, and never really solve it. Shame on me haha...

So, because of its complexity and mystery, my friend has an idea to make Rubick as a gift to one of our corporate program. I don't know exactly what my friend wanna do with those Rubicks.

Well, i guess our life is this Rubick. It has many colors: like-hate, health-sick, joy-sorrow, smart-stupid, etc... you name it. These "colors" are mixed each others, we can choose it one than solve it, than move to other colors and solve them till all done. But solving one 'color" or one problem is not an easy question. It's complicated and we ave to find the pattern. Once we have the pattern, or we can say the principles or values, to solve our problems, than nothing is matter. We have the wisdom to solve any kind of problem we met. Anybody can learn the pattern, but not anybody learn how to use it quick and effectively in our life. Some people even doesn't care about it. The one who can solve it perfectly is the success, and the others who ignore is the failure. Between them? The just ordinary people like us...

BIG IMPACT from small touch

2011-01-20T07:57:00.000+07:00

Can you believe that? Big power could come from even a small touch... Whenever I watched good movies like Bond's 007 or Die Hard or Bourne trilogy, I literally understood that. Many times Bond (starred by Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig) or John McClane (starred by Bruce Willies 4 times) or Jason Bourne (starred by Matt Damon) had to face death row because of a touch of a button, a bomb detonator. The President of United States, they say, has a button in his office in Pentagon which he can pressed it with his finger to launch a nuclear bomb to any place in the world... Weww, who knows the truth... Such a great power he has in his touch, eh?

Nokia has good symbol which i like... two hand touching each other, "connecting people" they said... Good point, a handset is a tool to connect people everywhere in the world... And it appears whenever we touch the start button in Nokia handset... Big power for millions of people...

My big boss, once in 2001 said that one day he would be able to monitor all of his companies by a touch of a button. He meant that he wanted a monitoring room in his office which could monitor his companies real time and up to date. Well, he actually can do that today... His touch can make a decision for a life of almost 20k employees...

My friend in high school had a unique ability with his hands. They can radiate a warm gleam from a short distance. He used to do that to give us (his friends) a small massage whenever we got fever or twisted a muscle. I thought he had a gift to cure people with his hands... and maybe it's the idea of Reflexiology or massage expert who can give freshness to anybody who come to them...maybe, I don't know...

The point is, a small touch can make a big impact, whether you realize it or not... Only touching hands somehow can tighten love to our heart or give the power we need... Shaking hands can bring peace to enemies or connecting two brothers from different cultures... And, if you do that with great love, the impact is surprisingly bigger...

So, let me touch your hand...

(note: right picture was an event in 25th December, Japan's KUMON visit to SAJA (Sekolah Anak Jalanan, Jakarta... left is KUMON's rep and right is Reinhard, principal of SAJA... pic taken with my BB)

Slap from God

2011-01-19T16:07:00.000+07:00

God slapped me yesterday while saying "be careful with your health issues"...

When i came home from work, in the train I felt really dizzy, i thought i was gonna fall. I tried so hard to fight it until the train station in Serpong. Thanks God I survived.
In the train station, i stop for a while in a tea shop and asked for a glass of hot tea. My head was still dizzy, till i was gonna call my wife to pick me up. But then i struggled to come home, ride my motorcycle slowly and hope Allah will help me endure until I get home.

Alhamdulillah, i went home safely. My wife quite shocked and she quickly took care of me. After having supper and took a rest, I felt better, event though i still feel dizzy. I knew it is because of my hipertension and cholesterol problem, two bad indicators that i just knew the days before from medical check up.

Unfortunately, i didn't take enough action to response the medical report... At lunch yesterday, I had gado-gado with peanut and "emping" as my lunch... How stupid I am to eat those food... of course it's forbidden for me...

Well, i should really really take a deep attention to my health issue now... I still have many dreams in the future that I want to realize... I stillhave many people who loved me to be taken care of...

Music & Art

2011-01-18T08:06:00.000+07:00

"Dangdut is the music of my country"... remember that song? Sang by a group of comedian Project-P, the song was popular couple years ago. At that time, almost every TV station has a dangdut show like American Idol, a contest to be the most popular dangdut singer debutan in this country...

When I was in the Youth Exchange Program in Canada in 2001, one of my counterparts said that he was amazed with our cultural performance: singing many traditional medley song, dancing several traditional dances (Saman from Aceh, Kuda-kuda from Java), and perform with our traditonal outfits from all over Indonesia. Once he heard from nowhere that all Indonesian people were musicians since they were born. I laught out loud at that time imagining that we just finished super-fast cultural training two weeks before we took-off to Canada (eventhough I danced Javanese since I was kid). Hehe...

But you know, that was one of the best time in my life. I felt like different people. I used to be known as scholar or student, i drown my self in books and activities, and suddenly, for 3 months I was an artist! Almost once a week i performed cultural show in many community occasions: such Community Fair in Duncan BC, International Art Show in Victoria, culture show in POC program, etc... It was just WOW... I was so excited! I enjoyed people clapping their hands after a segment of fast-moved Saman dance. I enjoyed seeing them admiring Indonesian culture...

This morning, in the train, i listen to (alm) Elfa's songs, sang by Elfa'Singers. There were Selamat Datang Cinta, Aku Jatuh Cinta, Pesta, a beautiful acapella "Sesuatu", and soon. Elfa was just passed away last week, in only 51 year-old but has created many many wonderful art music, and some of them giving award for Indonesia in some international competitions. Now government is considering to give him a medal for that.

I love arts and music, and always do. I practiced some art traditional dancing since I was a kid in my hometown Semarang, and i still remember the moves now. I played traditional music instrumenst when i was in college in "Loedroek ITB", a traditional play from East Java. BUT, i can not play any modern music instruments. I wanna be able to play guitar, piano, saxophone, drums etc. What i can do is just playing pianika and "seruling" in junior school. Shame on me hehe...

So, somebody please teach me how to play real music...

Story of a Magz

2011-01-17T20:47:00.000+07:00

Look at this magazine? Do you know who is she? If you know her name, i will give you reward. Just comment my blog and tell me your complete contact then if your answer is right, u'll get some surprise from me.

Well, this magazine screwed me up today. I got a presentation in front of top management today, and before the presentation there was a pre-event. The objective of pre-event is to practice for the real presentation and to anticipate all the questions and objection that might be come during the presentation. And this morning I got feedback from my bos: don't show that picture (exactly like that picture), otherwise the audiens will make fun of you. So, as he wish, i changed the picture.

But what happen at the meeting? When the slide was shown, this picture is there, and i was shock till death! And as my boss predicted, anybody laugh at me... some say "do you have her phone number? is that the result of the program? etc..." I was ashamed and can not say anything.

After the event, i found that i forgot to save the file that i've been changed and when somebody took the laptop, he didn't save it either and just closed the file. So, it was screwed... Anyway, in fact i wasn't really disappointed at all, i thought i have made anybody laugh today, bring them smile in their face ;D

Well, the lesson is, like what General Michael Douglas, or General Douglas McArthur, said "always expect the unexpected", prepare for something that doesn't fit with our plan, prepare for any surprises, good or bad...

So, do you have the idea who is she?

Crowdsourcing

2011-01-16T16:39:00.000+07:00

I found that www.threadless.com is very interesting. Threadless is a company who sell T-shirt by crowdsourcing the design to public. Yes, crowdsourcing is the big word, and the key of its success. Crowdsourcing, according to wikipedia, is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community (a crowd), through an open call.
This company was set up since 2000 by Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart in Chicago, Illinois US. The idea was simple. They asked public to submit t-shirt designs online, and let the public, also, to vote which were the bests. A small numer of selected designs will be printed and sold online. The winning designers got cash prizes ($2000) and store credit. Not bad, eh? Now on average, 1500 designs compete every week.
Along the way, Treadless always improved their systems. In March 2007, they launched Threadless kids which gained a huge success. And the latest was on May 2009, Threadless had a collaboration with Twitter, they allow users to vote popular tweets which will be printed in to the T-shirts. Creative, eh? and that's one of the success story of crowdsourcing... You see the picture, even they've got an award for that... the most innovative small company in the world..

You know guys, i tell you something. I love T-shirts, I'm a huge fan of them. Whenever wherever I went to some place, i never miss to buy T-shirt. Look at that picture. Roma! Yes, i bought that in Rome, Italy couple months ago. It's not even a good T-shirt, the material is too thin, the printed quality is worse than Bali's Joger, and maybe because the price is cheap, only 5 Euro. I didn't even buy it in T-shirt store, I bought it in a souvenir shop close to Fontana di Trevi in downtown Rome in the middle of the hot summer and in a hunger. Look at the design, it's so s0 design, eh? 12 small figure in one red T-shirt... I think the designer want to tell Rome in a small and short spaces... Well, in my closet i had other T-shirt like Dagadu Jogja, Bali's Joger, Ampelmann's Berlin, Amsterdam's thing, Phuket's Maduunan Chehtek, Singapore's blue T-shirt, Canada's Maple, and soon. I collected them mostly because I wanna have memory with the places, not always because it's a good T-shirt...

Sexy

2011-01-15T21:30:00.000+07:00

Sexy. It's not like what you think. I'm talking about cars. An expensive one. Since I had an Pay TV in my house, I often watched many good TV show, Junior Master Chef is one of them, i have written about that. The other one which I really liked was Top Gear from BBC Knowledge. It's a Tv show about cars and cars. Most of them are expensive and exclusive. This show was hosted by 3 'crazy' pressenters; jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. they are Gods of BBC Knowledge. Clarkson is the oldest and most senior among them. He is so funny and smart. He also has a special ability in driving any cars while presenting in front of the camera. Clarksno mostly got many cobtradiction with his colleagues, Hammond and May. They presented this show in a diferent ways like our show in Indonesia. They didn't 'jaim' or keeping their good image in front of cameras. They are what they are, and that's what people like about them.

Back to a good car. Two of them I uploaded in this blog. The first one on the left is Lamborghini Murcielago in yellow color. The other one is Bugatti Veyron in red color. Stunnign isn't it? You know, First i saw thi car about a half-year ago when I was in Berlin. Astrid, my wife's friend took us to an exclusive shopping mall exclusive for expensive cars. Many dream car were there and we can take pictur of them. Buying? In your dream! Only movie star or rock star or sports star can afford this. So, at that time my wife took a picture in front of that car and my niece (5 year old) saw the photo. He was really like the picture and keep asking what kind of car was that. His Grandpa, my father in law, told him that it was Bugatti, and that name was really pinned in his head. Evertime his father took him out, he always asked to look after Bugatti on the street, which of course none of it passing Indonesia's road for sure. But it seemed that he never stop asking. Well it was funny how you know a small kid learn about something.

Yes, learning a new thing will make us excited. But it has a period, there will be a time for us to be bored and we loose our enthusiasm. It is our big questions to make everything in our life seems like new and interesting, so we can always enjoy to play it...

Statistics

2011-01-14T08:15:00.000+07:00

I'm not gonna talk about statistics as a subject in college/university, because I'm not really good at it (actually not good at all :). Today I'll talk about how statistics can manipulate your mind. Really? Yes, lately there was an issue that SBY's government lied to public. This statement was issued by one of a respected spiritual leader, Din Syamsuddin. He is the head od Muhammadiyah, the second biggest Moslem community in Indonesia. I didn't know what Pak Din's thinking, but i believe he understand very well that throwing that kind of statement to public is tricky yet politically harmful. As a leader of the big community like Muhammadiyah, I think Pak Din shouldn't make that statement. If he really didn't agree with the government and see 'something' really bad happen, he could pass that info to some opposite politician rather than speak it by himself.

Well, I'm not gonna talk more about Pak Din or SBY, who lately is busy to avoid the issue. I'm going to talk about the content that stimulate the issue. Pak Din said that the statistics given by SBY's cabinet was a lie, because it didn't show the reality. SBY said it was true based on facts from BPS (Badan Pusat Statistik/Center of Statistic Organization). Well, those different perspective realy make people confuse, which one is right?

Look at that book, How to Lie with Statistics by Darrel Huff. Interesting, eh? This book really answered this political situation. Statistics has ruined the situation. The data from BPS is full of ambiguity. It was true or not? Nobody knows. It was intellectualy correct or not? Hope so? 100 persen correct? Of course not because it was statistics. It's all relative.

The point is, if we find out soem fact or data or statistics, we can make any interpretation as we want. One quote says "torture the number, and they will confess at anything". It depends on people's perspective. Different eyes could make different view.

For me, this debate is bad for public. Those people didn't show good example for citizens, regardless any arguments they say. That's it.