Thank you Teacher

I am so... looking forward for the school holidays. Not that I have any plan or anything like that, it is just that I can wake up a little later than usual. Oh yes! You have that right.

I slept at around 3.40 in the morning - you see, it is summer now and our Subuh prayer starts at 3.30-ish. So, I don't dare to sleep before I perform my prayer. And during school term, I normally wake up at 6.30 a.m. Or the most at 7.30. (But there are times when I overslept and both Mia & Aqil will be late for school!) It was quite embarrassing really to appear sheepishly at the door and explained that, "Sorry Mrs Ross. I overslept!" No way am I going to put the blame on my children when it was my fault! And Mrs Ross will be like "Oppsy!" and suppressed a smile. Anyway, let's stop  talking about me and my sleeping habit.

Last Thursday morning, I asked Damia & Aqil if they would like to give a Thank you card to their teachers. Since I am getting a few cards on behalf on Danish & Hakim for their teachers I might as well get some for Damia & Aqil too.

So, that Thursday both Aqil & me took a bus to go to the town centre. And what a long process it was! Aqil seemed to like almost every Thank You cards on display. He could not make his mind of which to choose. It took us about an hour and the half (including two trips to the cashier and back again to the cards as he was not satisfied!), I finally managed to get him to agree to getting the same cards for all the teachers. How glad was I when he gave in. At least that part is over. I cannot recall my if my older children are as fussy as Aqil!!! I am not going to ask him to choose any card again until he is at least 16!!!

And now, let me just share with you what Damia wrote on her card. Well, three cards altogether but I only have the photo taken for one. Do you think you understand what she wrote?

Translation : Dear Mrs McCaib (Mrs McCabe - one of the Classroom Assistants), Thank you for giving me presents and taking care of me. Phooh! That's her spelling for you!

She wrote two others for her Class Teacher Mrs Young and Mrs DiPonio, the Class Assistant which was a bit more lengthy. But, too bad I do not know what she wrote for them. Since she started schooling in November, Mrs Young & Mrs DiPonio have always been there for her. So, I guess perhaps she gets a little bit sentimental when writing to them. Anyway, I caught a glimpse of the last sentence before she glue off - "And thank you for helping me with my work." Aaahhh... that's more like it!

Two Ladies & A Full Bloom Patch of Flowers :-D

Well, I have just finished my exam yesterday. My final paper. Anyway, I am not writing about what happened before and after exam yesterday - not yet. Perhaps later.

Last Friday (May 7) was our lab assessment. All the past few months lab sessions came down to this three hour assessment - If you ask me how am I doing, I am not sure - it was like I was drugged during that three hours, I can't really remember how I got through it. And as usual after almost every exam, I will always have a dream of which my lecturer will be asking me why am I not doing well. For the first paper, it came in the shape of Dr. Brown who's asking me on top of his lungs "WHY CAN'T YOU ANSWER THAT? WE HAVE DISCUSSED THAT, REMEMBER?! I HAVE EXPLAINED THAT STEP BY STEP DURING CONSULTATION!!". I woke up glad that it was only a dream. For the lab assessment, this time Dr. Brown was not in the picture, only his voice "Now, why did you use logic to answer that question when you have Minitab?" Phooooh! Well, the reality is, for some of the probability questions, I did use my logic on normally distributed data - Well! So, all-in-all I am not sure how my fate is going to be just yet.

Anyway, we studied hard for 5QM. And after the exam last Friday as we (my friend Monica & I) approached the School of Accounting & Finance Building, we saw the patch of garden across the street where I sometimes waited for my 73 bus to take me home to Dochart Terrace was in full bloom! So, since I have my camera with me, we did what I always wanted to do before - to take photos when the flowers are in full bloom - don't ask me what flower just yet, yeah!

My Dear Friend Monica

Finally!

See the building on the right? It housed both the School of Environmental Studies and our School, the School of Accounting & Finance

River Tay

The spot where I sometimes waited for the bus

An Interesting Fact I found

As all of you readers to my blog know and know only too well, I am currently in the midst of preparing my dissertation.  I have finally received the approval for the topic last week. Anyway, I am not going to elaborate on the topic. While going through articles related to my topic, I came across an interesting fact in the Washington Blog (http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com). The writing was entitled "Islamic Banks Are Surviving the Financial Crisis Better Than Western Banks". If I may quote, the writer was saying, "As I have previously written, the Islamic banking system may survive the financial crisis better than the Western system because it forbids usury and the buying and selling of debt." Unquote.

It made reference to the Associated Press (AP) story in which it was stated :

Quote : "Interest payments, short selling and contracts considered excessively risky are also prohibited. That rules out some of the products that got Western finance into so much trouble such as subprime mortgages, collateralized debt obligations or credit default swaps."Unquote.

But the most that I found interesting is the following which reference was made to Michael Rivero's comment to the AP story. (Michael Rivero of WhatReallyHappened (http://whatreallyhappened.com). Rivero's comment was the Bible also prohibits usury :

Quote : "And, contrary to the popular myth promulgated by the "Clash of Civilization" afficiniados, the prohibition against usury (compound interest) is not confined to the Quran, but is found in the Bible itself.  The following are taken from the King James version of the Bible ;

25 "If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him with interest.

26 "If you ever take your neighbour's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down

27 "For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin.  what will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious (Exodus 22: 25 - 27)

36 "Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.

37 "You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. (Leviticus 25 : 36 - 37)

19 "You shall not charge interest to your brother - interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. (Deuteronomy 23 : 20)

7 If he has not oppressed anyone, But has restored to the debtor his pledge; Has robbed no one by violence, But has given his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with clothing;

8 If he has not exacted usury Nor taken any increase, But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity And executed true judgment between man and man;

9 If he has walked in My statutes And kept My judgments faithfully - He is just; He shall surely live!" Says the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 18 : 7 -9) Unquote.

Now, this is something that I have to include in my dissertation! Though some adjustments have to be made.

(Source of Image : http//:ux.brookdalecc.edu)

Finally It's Over! :-D

Well, as if to add another challenge to the not-so-easy to understand 4 segments Burrell & Morgan Sociological Paradigms which is an integral reference when you are taking Research Methodology, we are required to put up a presentation on how well we understand the overall methodology.  So, as it was when presentation is required, you will feel uneasy (keeps nagging at the back of your mind) until it is done with. At least that was what I felt for the past few weeks after receiving the topic of the presentation.

I considered I am very fortunate to have group members who are dedicated and can't bear to let the group down! We discussed and argued (again and again - fortunately, we are also very critical!) and asked ourselves questions that might be asked by our fellow course mates and the Lecturer in charged.

So, panicked we all were when we arrived at Dalhousie building.  We ran our presentation one last time and then tried calming ourselves down - Wang Xi by walking to the Union, me by making the trip to the vending machine for latte, Vivien by walking around to get a breather and Fidelix concentrating of his part of his presentation. And, you can judge how panicky we were - we arrived 2 hours before the presentation started.

Today, we have four groups presenting. And here are the photos :

Lawrence & Soham - thumbs up! One team mate didn't turn up but, well The Show Must Go On!

Topic : Anomalous Evidence on the Dividend Annual Effect

My Group - Wang Xi, Myself (controlling the slides), Fidelix and Vivien

Topic : The Market Impact of Corporate Alliance Announcements : Value-Weighted versus Equally-Weighted Portfolio Returns

My turn, hoping the others didn't think it's a lullaby. I am talking paradigms & hypotheses!

Mobelix, Asheek & Prashant : Listening to Dr Boulkeroua's questions

Topic : Why UK Companies Hedge Interest Rate Risk

Albert, Omar & Nicole. Albert is explaining his point of view on the Pre & Post Performances of Takeover Companies  

Topic : Does Operating Performance Increase Post Takeover for UK Takeovers? A Comparison of Performance Measures and Benchmarks.

At the end of it, all of us were very glad that Dr. Boulkeroua was giving a real good comments to us all. It will really boost our confidence for quite some time. Thank you!!! :-D

And now, we can concentrate on preparing the Literature Review for our respective dissertation. And of course : EXAMMMMM!