Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Teaching something that you don't know

How would you feel if you were told to teach something to some other people which in fact you're not too good about it, but the others think that you are? Oddly enough, this situation happened to me THREE times in just one week!

First, i had to fly to Lampung last week to help a company doing recruitment tests for another company, and 'all i had to do' was to test the applicants' technical skills, particularly about their power electrical engineering skills, which I know almost nothing about it (yes i am an electrical engineer, but i've been too much into electronics such that i've forgotten almost everything i've learnt about power systems). I was told about this (that I needed to assess their power electrical systems knowledge, not just general electrical engineering) just two days before the interview tests.

Second, i had to teach a statistics lab class (in civil engineering department, not EE), replacing a senior lecturer in my department. I've never used statistics for any of my research or work, so practically i know NOTHING about it. Again, i was told about this only two days before the class. To make it worse, i had to deliver the lecture in English. Although it didn't turn into a disaster, there were moments in the class where I 'silently' panicked because of my inability to answer some very simple questions from the class.

The third one is the worse among all three. It happened this morning. At 8.30am, my lecturer (well, he's actually my colleague now but i still consider them as my teacher) called me at the Lab and asked me to do a favour for another lecturer. They wanted me to replace him teaching for a workshop scheduled on 8am that morning (yup, it was late). I tried to refuse, saying that I know NOTHING about the topic that is meant to be delivered (they wanted me to teach about SCADA). But he managed to persuade me with sentences like, "yang PEDE saja, mas", "gakpapa, nanti terserah aja mau membahas apa, dibawa ngalor ngidul juga gakpapa". I panicked. So i agreed to do it, and there I went, rushing to the hotel where the workshop is to be held. Luckily, it was like a "private" workshop where there was only one attendee. We ended up discussing various topics, particularly in digital communications where he feels that he needs to know more about it. Overall, I would say the "workshop" this morning went out quite okay.

To be honest, I really felt stupid doing those stuff (teaching or doing something you're not too good at), but my advice to anyone who would probably encounter a similar problem: try to stay calm, be honest to your audience, try to shift the focus towards the participants (try to be a great listener, encourage the audience to speak up their minds and show their potentials), and work out on problems together... on the spot. Communicate.

:-(

Friday, November 14, 2008

Stupid Ants

Researchers say that ants have some sort of intelligence, particularly as a group (ant colony intelligence, as they call it). But I find that this 'colony intelligence' can lead to a mass suicidical behaviour, as shown from numerous casual observations that i've made.

In other words, i think they're still stupid even in a group.

I drink coffee almost everyday, with at least 3 teaspoons of sugar in it (i know... i'm sick). Like most of us, I drink coffee rather slowly. Which means, my coffee cup spends most of its time on my table, or desk, or any flat and hard surface that I feel suitable. (my hard springbed is one of them)

Now.

In almost every occasion, whenever I leave the cup of coffee too long on the table, i'll normally find around 2 or 3 dead ants floating on my sweet coffee with non-fat cream. Which is still okay. This is still reasonable.

But when I leave the cup of coffee more than a day, the number of ant casualties will usually be enormous... By enormous i mean like the whole surface of the cup of coffee cream will be covered with freaking dead ANTS! :-(
(i know... yuck!)

What were they thinking of???

Or could it be that once an ant drowned on the 'sweet creamy pool', then the next ant tries to save her? But of course, ants can't swim, so this 'rescuer' will also be destined to meet her fate in that already cold coffee... And then it goes on and on and on again.. Poor thing :-(

If so, they may not be stupid after all. Perhaps they simply care too much for each other...

ps: the ants i'm talking about are the very tiny ones (and cometimes smelly too)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Nomer HP

Gara-gara membaca blog nya Aya, aku jadi kepengen juga menulis sesuatu tentang nomer-nomer HP yang pernah kumiliki selama ini, berikut cerita nya masing-masing.

Nomer HP pertama saya adalah 08562905080. Kumiliki sejak sekitar tahun 2002. Ibu saya sering menyebut nomerku yang ini "gosobo", karena memang angka-angka nya bisa dibaca seperti itu. Kenapa bisa dapat nomer ini, saya betul-betul lupa. Yang jelas ini SIM card kuperoleh tanpa harus beli. Mungkin menang semacam door prize atau sejenis kuis gitu, di Jogja. Oh, jadi inget. Ini nomer hadiah doorprize di Warnet. Kalau ga salah warnet Blangkon-net. Hehe iya... Terus, yang kuingat betul, waktu itu aku juga dapet nomer IM3 gratis yang lain, dan kuberikan ke om ku di Jakarta, karena nomernya nomer Jakarta (dapet dari hadiah lomba). Nomer IM3 ini betul2 bisa memenuhi kebutuhanku sebagai seorang mahasiswa waktu itu, karena selain pulsanya tergolong murah dibandingkan yang lain, nomer ini bisa buat 3-detikan :D (eh yg lain juga bisa ya waktu itu?). Handset ku yang setia memakai nomer ini adalah Siemens M50 dan Siemens M55-ku yang sekarang ini entah bagaimana nasibnya (dua2nya hilang kayaknya)

Nomer HP kedua saya adalah 0422767218. Jangan heran dengan angka depannya. Ini memang bukan nomer Indonesia. Sama seperti Aya, sepertinya para mahasiswa Indonesia yang baru datang ke Sydney banyak yang digiring untuk memakai Optus, hehe... Nomer ini kudapatkan di sebuah pom bensin BP di corner Anzac Pde - High Street, Kensington NSW. Kenapa bisa beli disitu? Karena diajak oleh Ary, temen satu SD ku yang juga satu kost-ku di sana... Nomer ini berhasil menemaniku selama satu semester di sana, sampai akhirnya aku harus beli HP baru (berikut nomernya).

Nomer HP ketigaku adalah 0433273581. Tadi sebelum nulis posting-an ini, jujur aja aku sempat lupa berapa ya nomer HP ku di Australia. Tapi setelah kucoba mengingat2 kembali (sempat nge-search di milis juga tadi :D), akhirnya bisa ingat kembali. Mau tahu gimana bisa inget? Awalnya, aku cuma ingat depannya: 0433. Jadi sistem penomoran telpon di Australia itu begini. Kalau depannya 02, berarti 02 itu kode area (NSW, termasuk Sydney). Kalau depannya 04, berarti itu adalah nomer HP. Nah kalau setelah 04 ada angka 3-nya, biasanya itu adalah nomer Three, walaupun ini bukan jaminan, karena di Australia kita bisa migrasi operator tanpa perlu ganti nomer. Kembali tentang gimana cara mengingat kembali nomerku. Ternyata, tadi itu saya nyoba membacakannya dalam hati, "zero four double three", lalu secara ajaib bibirku bisa melanjutkan sendiri... "two seven three... five eight one." Aneh ya? Bisa inget kata2nya tapi nomernya sendiri lupa...

Nomer itu tadi kudapatkan bersama dengan HP baru yang kubeli dengan plan 24 bulan kontrak pasca bayar dari Three.Yang menarik dari plan ini adalah angsuran harga HP-nya sangat ringan, cuma $0 per bulan! Iya, berarti gratis, hehe... Padahal HP nya ga jelek2 amat lho, bisa 3G... (Sony Ericsson K608i) Nomer ini telah setia menemaniku studi di Australia, dan nyaman sekali bisa dipakai roaming di Indonesia dan negara lain...

Nomer HP berikutnya yang kumiliki, dan masih kupakai sampai sekarang adalah sebuah nomer Simpati yang kubeli secara sedikit terburu-buru juga, yakni di Stasiun Tugu Yogyakarta. Harganya sedikit lebih mahal dibandingkan di luar, tapi waktu itu karena sesuatu hal, betul-betul butuh nomer baru, ASAP. Nomernya adalah 081392201XXX. Nomer ini adalah nomer yang terpanjang dan tertidakcantik yang pernah kumiliki, namun kumasih setia menggunakannya karena sudah terlanjur dipakai terus sejauh ini... repot kalau harus ganti lagi. Selain itu, layanan Simpati dengan Simpati PeDe Rp0.5 perdetiknya terlalu menggiurkan untuk dilewatkan begitu saja...

Sebenarnya, kalau kalian punya buku yellow pages Jogja, namaku bisa dicari di situ. Ada nomer Flexi-nya, tapi sebenarnya yang megang adalah ibuku. Dulu pakai namaku karena disuruh sama Ibu untuk menguruskan pendaftaran flexi pascabayar di Plasa Telkom... :D

Lalu, di luar nomer2 di atas, sebenarnya sudah tidak terhitung lagi berapa nomer yang kubeli sekedar untuk kukorbankan, entah itu karena harganya sangat2 murah (Mentari), atau karena ada promo internetnya (Axis), atau karena pengen telpon murah ke LN (XL). Dan pernah juga karena kebetulan bawa HP milik jurusan yang kebetulan adalah HP CDMA, jadi terpaksa beli Fren. Rata-rata nomer HP yang bisa dikorbankan ini cuma bertahan kupakai antara 1 hari sampai 1 minggu...