tap…tap..tap..(May Typing)
(Whack!*%)
May: Arrrggghhh!!
What did I do?? Hey!
(Go over to aung’s desk)
(Takes revange)
WHAT DID I DO!!!
WHAT DID I DO??
Aung: Your sister told me to.
May: What? PIG!
(Whack back Aung’s Head)
(Stamp back to own desk mattering…)

Zatlite:
Win: go hit masu
Aung: ok
wait where?
where should i hit her?
Win: anywhere
Aung: ok
Win: oh oh
Aung: ok i hit her head
Win: no u don’t have to
Aung: too late
Win: well
too bad

May: PIGSSSSSS!!!

P.S: I’ve added a new category “Brothers and Sisters”, which will consists of conversations, mishaps and all stupid sorts between me and my siblings. It’s gonna be very personal so you may skip or ignore as you wish.
Ta tar.

We apologise for the title but the following article does NOT contain profanity.

Being an IT degree holder with no other accomplishments common these days such as A+, N+, MCP, MCSD, MCSE, etc, I place an obscene amount of value and pride on my single degree.

To me, a degree from CQU Fiji International Campus is comparable to a qualification from one of the Ivy League colleges in the US. This is because IMNSHO, CQU is the best institution available in the Fiji Islands.

My degree is my dearest procession. It is my bragging rights to other less fortunate and less gifted than me. It is a thing to put on display as an awe-inspiring object for the uneducated. Why do you think we get the option at graduation to get the certificate in gold plate or sliver, or carved into wood? If not to flaunt it?

I care very much about issues that would belittle my esteemed degree.

I can’t take any comment that puts a degree from CQU, its students or the institution itself in a bad light – especially those of slander from other universities’ graduates on the quality of my university’s degree, its education or the work of its alumni.

Lately, I have been hearing comments from some of my friends still studying in CQU that programming courses are becoming easier year after year. Every one or two year, ‘the powers that be’ take out a few topics of study from the course COIT11134. Fundamental subjects I studied back in my days have been moved to a higher level course. The assignments are so easy any of my mates from my year can do them in 10 mins flat after a night of binge drinking.

I am a programmer by profession. I can’t take this kind of rumours, if it is true, who’d respect a programmer that came out of my university?

So, I took it upon myself to investigate. I went to the course website, got the course profile. Alas! it is true. Half of what I learnt in this unit is deemed too advanced by ‘the powers that be’ and is now banished from the curriculum.

I wasn’t done yet, I wanted to check the assignments too. Oh? They have been locked for access by students only? Are we so ashamed of the pitiful excuses for an assignment that we have to hide it from prying eyes? That can’t stop me, nothing can stop a be-raved man, they’ve gone and destroyed my prized possession, my precious degree by cheapening its value with watered down versions of fundamental courses.

I’ve got contacts in uni who can get me the assignment details so I got one of them to email me the damning documents. And my choice of words was correct, they are indeed damning documents they have condemned the students doing this particular assignment to finish their degrees with half the essential knowledge if ever they were to choose programming as their careers.

The problem is not just with the course itself but with the course coordinators too. I have a choice excerpt from this term’s assignment materials which shows exactly what the designer of the course think of the intellect of potential students, and the amount of effort that he wants put into the course by them.

KISS
Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS). Don’t try to do anything fancy. There is no need. You won’t get any extra marks for complex implementation. Trying to complex solutions will only slow down your solution. Limit yourself to the material covered in Programming A and the first 5 weeks of Programming B.

I whole heartedly disagree with the above. I believe it is a stupid attempt to try and get more people to pass the subject by making the subject easier. Instead of thinking up such childish acronyms, lecturers and course coordinators should be spending their time actually teaching the less gifted students.

“Keep It Simple, Stupid”? Is it the ‘in thing’ now to insult students for no reason?

How about ‘Don’t try to do anything fancy.’? Are the submitted assignments so complicated that they are ‘out of the grasp’ of the university’s unending list of part-time tutors? This kind of attitude in teaching inhibits learning and creativity. If students didn’t think of doing any thing fancy, where will we get the polish and the flair? How do we discover new techniques? Where do we get our next Newtons, Edison or Einstein or even Bill Gates for that matter?

One word CQU, you are going about this the wrong way. Making courses easier to pass and pulling more students through your programs may be better for business, but it is not doing anyone any good in the long run.

Please don’t devalue my degree. It is my pay cheque. It is my rice pot. It is something my parents used the last of their retirement funds on. Keep the courses reasonable, teach the students well and let me and other alumni keep whatever good reputation we made for ourselves and for the university through hard work and dedication in our field of study and work. For all of us’ sake!

For my beloved university and respected colleagues.
Zatlite

Technorati Tags: Information Technology, Aung Tun Tint Kyaw, Bachelor Degree, Certificate, Central Queensland University, Education, Programming

Zatlite: i want some sausage rolls
May: no dont waste $

Zatlite: I WANT SOME SAUSAGE ROLLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May: I’m gonna blog about that

Zatlite: i dont care i want sausage roll
i want it i want it i want it
May: Drop dead n die

Win: phothar said to buy him sausage rolls
May: i said no
almost lunch time here

Aung: ma su wont buy me sausage rolls
Win: why
Aung: go ask her to buy me some
Win: its round 1 there
lunch time htere
Aung: its 12 here
Win: mom made u lunch
Aung: i dont care i want sausage rols
i’m bored i want to eat
Win: so eat ur lunch
u should have brought some snacks from home if u hungry
Aung: i want to eat sausage roll not lunch
Win: mom makes good food, n i miss it. u lucky she makes food for u
or else u’d be eating sandwich everyday
Aung: useless sisters no one will buy me sausage rolls
no i wont i’ll eat sausage rolls everyday
Win: whatever
u want me to order u sausage roll through internet?
Aung: i want fries with that

May: stupid.
Zatlite: useless sisters no one will buy me sausage rolls

May: put this on the table.
Win: $1 MaSu(my home nick)

May: What! You little…put this on the table!
Win:You want something done, you know you gotta pay for it.
(I have to pay $5 if I want her to do the dishes, $2 to put my laundry together with hers while she washing them, etc)

May: Aung mar!(Burmese complaint/argumentative word) I bought you KFC just this evening and it costs 8 bucks.
Win: You didn’t buy me EXCLUSIVELY, you eat that too.

May: EXCLUSIVELY!! Hey whatever, it still over $1. You eat more so it covers this $1 already.
Win: But you’re the big sister, you are to buy me things.

May: Awwwwwww so I’m to buy things for you cos’ me the big sister and you won’t do anything free for me cos’ you’re younger?
You, little, smarth mouth, stupid, useless, cheating, nyit sote, lu lal kya ma, good for nothing, gal!
Just PUT THIS ON THE TABLE!!
Win: Blar blar blar blar… (making faces, closing her ear)

May: MayGyi (Mom!!), you daughter getting smart with me. (Yell)
Mom: “Win Win, twar nyit ma nay nal, lote pay lite, narr nyi tal” (quit cheating, do it, it’s noisy).

May: There, put this on the table now. (with winning tone)
Win: hooont! (and she throw them on the table)

# Case Closed. #

Moral of the story:
Being an elder is a great thing, if you know who to ask for help.
The beauty of having authority over youngers is satisfying, if you got $$ and know the art of how to use them.

My favorite photos of the week. Just relaxing in our front yard.
Such a sunny hot day. It’s so suffocating inside so we all chilling out under the mango trees.

Oh yah that’s my mom making faces at my brother. She always joke around with us. She’s such a nice mom as well as a great friend to us.

P.S. Don’t joke with my dad, he’s no fun. Only when he’s in good mood then good to tease. Otherwise you’ll get a yell.
He seems pretty good mood then in the picture tho.

Last weekend our family and a friend of us gather to eat “Hta Min Thote”, Burmese Rice Salad. Our friend(uncle KMCho) is very good at cooking and almost every weekend, he would make something special and my mom makes a few more and we eat together. This time, while my mom was preparing for morning (break-lunch) “Hta Min Thote”, uncle called and said he’s preparing to make “Mandalay Mont Tee”. So he brought some stuffs, we added some more and finally quite a lot of ingredients to make “A Thote Sone” (mixed salad).

I had 2 serves of “Hta Min Thote” with lots of chili, seaweeds and green pawpaw. I don’t’ like “Mandalay Mont Tee” because it’s too oily and make you go sleepy. My bro ate 3 types of “Mont Tee” (salad) with different varieties. My mom was the only one who mix stuffs for all of us so she was very busy mixing then.

One thing I love about Burmese Foods is cos’ we have lots of varieties in a single dish. But that’s the very same thing I hate about Burmese Food. It takes a lot of time to prepare and too many stuffs to add.

I’m not good with cooking/chopping/peeling/preparing or anything to do with food matters, except eating. If I’ll have to prepare this kind of meal for myself, I would never ever be able to do that. I take about 7-10 mins just to slice up one onion and think of all those stuffs to slice, chop, boil, mix …. Arrggggghhhhhh … just too much for me.

Just for 15 – 20 min of delicious meal, you’ll need the whole morning to prepare. That’s just not right. But for those who love cooking then they might enjoy doing all those. So here are some of the ingredients you need to make one good “Burmese Hta Min Thote”.

Main Ingredients:

• Cooked Rice, (Hta Min)
• Boiled Vermicelli, (Kyar San)
• Boiled Noodle, (Khout Swal)
• Chicken Curry, (Kyat Thar See Chat)
• Boiled Eggs (Kyat Ou Pyout)
• Dry Prawns (Pa Zon Chout)

Seasonings:

• Chili Powder (Nga Yote Thee Mhont)
• Roasted Pea Powder (Pall Mhont)
• Fish Source (Ngan Pyar Yae)
• Tamarind Juice (Ma Gyee Phyaw Yae)
• Fried Onion (Kyat Thon Nee See Chat)
• Fried Garlic (Kyat Thon Phyu See Chat)
• Seasoning Powder (A Cho Mhont)
• Salt (Sarr)

Veges:

• Beans Sprout (Pal Pin Pout)
• Cabbage (White – slice roughly, Green – slice finely) (Gaw Fee)
• Seaweed (Kyout Kyaw, Yae Nheyit)
• Boiled Potato (Ar luu)
• Green Paw Paw (Thin Paw Thee Chit)
• Spring Onion
• Lime

Side Dish:

• Onion Salad with lime juice (Kyat Thon Nee Thote)
• Chicken Stock Soup (Kyat Thar Sout Pyout)
• Fried Crispy Noodle (Khout Swal Mont Kyout)

Well that’s all we add in our “Hta Min Thote”. If you want, you can add some more like “Tohuu”, “Hta Min Nee”, “Hta Min Sane” etc. The more ingredients you add, the better your “Hta Min Thote” will be, ofcos you also need to know how to mix the right potions of all those stuffs.
Tough job to prepare one good meal huh? Oh mind you though, “Hta Min Thote” is not a main meal for Burmese. It’s just a breakfast kind of thing.

So how’s your weekend meals like?