Update 13

Hello

Wow March is a 'happening' month for ISM. Early March we had e-blasted to all members the activities for the whole month of March which we dubbed as "Blast in March". Every branches and divisions all over Malaysia including Sabah and Sarawak had organized some kind of activities. These includes career day and career talks for students, International Students seminar, Jamboree for university undergraduates, CPD talks for members, dialogue with private and public institutions of higher learning, workshop on professional services, technical and social visit, Surveying congress, dialogue with Sabah branch and Sarawak branch members, Galaxy of Surveying stars, and Annual General Meeting of branches and divisions. We are glad to inform that all these activities were carried out with great success.

I received so many positive feedbacks on our first of a kind "Galaxy of Surveying stars" where we have fellow Surveyors who have gone beyond the boundaries of their professional background using Surveying as a foundation and platform to a more prestigious and high-profile careers to talk about their experience. We have such gems like "Don't do things that are interesting but things that interest you", "Passion, commitment and courage", "communication tool using language of diplomacy and humor", "Adjust and flexible are not weaknesses but courage to right a wrong", "Truthful and integrity maketh a man", "Retirement is not the end of your working life". "arrogance and invincibility will be your downfall", "Just do it", etc. It was amazing and insightful.

The CPD talks that are given FOC to members are not really free but being subsidized my the government based on the MIDA grant that ISM had received. So do take advantage of these talks as the grant is only one off and must be utilized by December 2010.

The dialogues that we had with the institutions of higher learning and members in Sabah and Sarawak made us realized how important it is to always always meet members as no amount of written information can beat eye to eye explaination. And the dialogue opens the channel for discussions. I am glad that we had also included activities for school students as it promote the Surveying professions as an option for their future career. The seminar, dialogue and jamboree with undergraduates also helped to strengthen their conviction that they have choosen the right profession.

I was in Sabah during the Sabah Surveying congress that I was informed by University Malaya that I had indeed passed my Phd and am a full fledge "Dr". Oh that is sheer happiness - 5 years of juggling my life between my family, study, work , and other commitments that I had involved myself in i.e. ISM, BQSM, CIDB, UTM etc.

I was so busy the whole month of March that I don't realised the small boil that was starting to grow on part of my body. I felt some slight pain but I dismissed it as just an insect bite. The next thing I know I'm not able to sit due to the boil that had grown and harden. I had to go to the clinic daily for the past 5 days to get it cleaned and daily dressing of the wounds. Oh my god the pain was so excruciating that I felt it as painful as going through labour. I unashamely cried everytime they did the dressing.

Well that's life - the highs and the lows all within the month of March!!. Okay bye for now.

Salam
Assoc Prof Sr Dr Wan Maimun Wan Abdullah