Teaching at XMUM, Commitments and Quantum Furore

I have started teaching part-time at XMUM but now in the Maths Department and we are now about to go in Week Three. Week One had Malaysia Day and the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the university has the policy of replacing lectures that fall on public holidays. I haven't done mine yet since I have large classes and it is difficult to find a common time for all. My Linear Algebra class has around 70+ students from largely Computer Science School, while my other two Quantitative Methods and Data Analysis classes are 90+ and 100+ students, largely from Finance and International Business programs. To help me prepare these classes, I bought two books that burned a hole in my pocket with a cost of around RM1300.

I had to buy them so that I can get details out from the common lecture notes of the courses. The books are expensive because they have coloured pages printed on glossy paper and each book has around 600 and 800 pages respectively.

So, even before I can earn money from this part-time teaching, I was already spending quite a lot (including the air-conditioning unit mentioned in this post for my comfort working at home). I hope this will pay off in the long run. So here are my two classes for the finance and international business students.

The facilities there are good, with projectors on both sides of the room. For my Linear Algebra class, the lecture room is smaller and flat-leveled and it had only one projector (I guess, less business-like).

As a part-time staff, I do not have a room to work in. So instead, I work in the library or in some public spaces, together with students. For privacy, I tend to prepare most work at home, usually in the early morning hours. Here is a pic of the lobby of the administrative building and a pic of me in the library.

I took up the job to help me with my growing expenses. I have to make sure that my own family is well cared for. Usually, it is the unexpected expenses that dry up my savings. Another commitment I have made is a conference in Krabi and this will add further to my expenses.

I was surprised to get the invitation from Areeya (on behalf of the committee of SQST 2024). Knew her when I was trying to organize an EQuaLS event (that coincided with the Covid outbreak). That was years ago and she did not know that I have retired. I told her about my retirement but I'm about to take up a part-time job at XMUM. However, part-timers in usual circumstances are not allowed to go on leave. So, I had to consult the Head of Department and after getting the green light (verbally), I confirmed with the organizers about me giving an invited talk. Thus, the picture. When I posted the pic in my FB page, I was not trying to brag. I am very much aware of the other listed invited speakers are well-known and better researchers in QS&T. In fact, it took me a while to decide what to talk on. I toyed with the idea of giving a talk on ZX-calculus and QEC, but these are topics that I'm still picking up details on. Finally, I settled on a topic perhaps less close to the topics in the conference, a problem I have left to my ex-PhD student before I retire and how it should be developed further.

The main reason I accepted the invitation to the conference is to be able to represent Malaysia in the field. There is also another Malaysian invited speaker on the list, namely Dr. Yap Yung Szen who is an experimentalist. So I guess, I represent the theorists here. There is some sense of importance of being there (and it is not about me); if ever an ASEAN collaboration is to be realized in the future, ground work has to be done earlier and that we (Malaysians) tend to support each other's events. Next year, I was told that we are hosting an event and thus we need their support as well. I don't have a grant to support my travel and accommodation and thus the committed expenses from my own budget. The organizer has waived my registration and they will support local travel. I hope to bring my own family there and they can get to visit Thailand for the first time but I will be with the conference to honour the organizers.

Currently the topic of quantum computing is in the air waves in Malaysia up to the point of our own PMX mentioning it in a public discussion (see video around minute 10:40) Being surprised, I asked my junior colleagues what is going on. The person(s) explained to me of events that have happened in the background. There seems to be three different independent initiatives that have started. I think this is fine as long as all initiatives have national matters at heart. In fact, the more opportunities opened up by these, the better because we want to ensure better probabilities of successes. I'm a bit old for all the push and it is time for the younger ones to shine. Nevertheless, if I can serve a good deed along the way, I'll be happy and hope it counts for the hereafter. My attitude has always been, I will entertain those who are seeking help or advice. But if there is none, that is fine as well, but more importantly, I do not want to get involved with hidden personal agendas. For me, the realistic picture is that we are latecomers to the field and we have yet to make a proper mark in the international arena.

Surrounding Malaysia Day and a Birthday

Back to updating this blog with first, a matter that happened after our Melaka trip. After coming back, we found that the air-conditioner in our room stopped working. We wondered what had happened though we knew it had problems before this but not to the point of stopped working totally. We initially called someone to figure out what had happened. The person told us that the circuit board was probably damaged and getting spare parts is problematic. We went on a few days without the air-conditioner and it was a bit unbearable working in warm conditions (sunlight coming through the glass separating the room and the balcony). So, we decided to get a new air-conditioner though the matter could have come at a better time - more expenses. So, we got our new air-conditioner on the Saturday before Malaysia day.

Just two days before, I have started going to XMUM for briefings. A scary thing happened while driving to XMUM on Friday for a departmental briefing  by Prof. Teo Lee Peng. I had chest pain that I have never felt before. I wasn't sure if I should stop driving. I carried on until I reached Serenia toll and pulled to the side to rest and took nitroglycerine tablets which I had in my computer bag. The pain subsided and I continued my drive to XMUM, in time for the briefing (almost wanted to cancel it). I consider this as a warning that I should make the most of my time left. Met  Prof. Teo during the briefing and she later helped out with my MS Teams problem as well as my email. That afternoon, I went to Surau Al-Hijrah in Kota Warisan for Friday prayers (first time there).

On the way back, I lost my way and missed a meeting with course coordinator Dr. Goh. I later joined the departmental meeting online (wasn't sure of going since I'm part-time staff.

Come the weekend, both of my sons Ihsan and Izhar came back home and we had the whole family in the house. The morning of September 16 (Malaysia day), we had breakfast together at a restaurant near Aeon.

The rest of the family went to MAHA thereafter while I stayed at home preparing for forthcoming lectures. Here are some pictures of them there.

That night we again had dinner together at a restaurant outside.

I cherish these moments together and I always asked my sons to take photos (sometime to their embarrassment). Izhar went back the next day while Ihsan stayed longer at home until my other half's birthday.

We also had a special lunch together at Belqis restaurant just before Ihsan went back to JB.

Finally, I just want to put this up to show that I'm still active. Before anyone say anything, I do feel small despite being put alongside more well-known researchers (more about this later).

A Weekend in Melaka

The past week had me going to a series of ups and downs (more of the latter). First, my other half complained about some chest pain after jogging around City Park. So she did some check up at the nearest Klinik Kesihatan near City Park twice, one for the ECG and another for blood test. The results problematic ECG and high cholesterol levels; so there is a fear of diseased heart.

She was advised to go for an echocardiogram. Appointment with the public hospital may take ages. Coincidentally, last weekend she had to go for a conference in Melaka organized by Pantai Hospital. So we decided to go a day earlier and have her echocardiogram done at Pantai Hospital.

After spending almost a day there, we finally checked in at Holiday Inn in Melaka, where the conference will be held (the next day). For that day stay, I had to book the room out of my pockets; for some reason, it was charged in US dollars and it costed more than it should. Pantai Hospital only sponsor one night stay there (Saturday) but the conference went on until late Sunday afternoon. We negotiated with the organizer and the hotel to stay in the same room. We decided to stay an extra Sunday night there, which is to be charged on our expenses but fortunately at a discounted rate. 

That Friday night, we went out to walk around. There was a free hotel shuttle to Taming Sari tower and Dataran Pahlawan. We stopped at the tower to get dinner. There seems to be plenty of 'asam pedas' eateries. We randomly chose one.

We took some pics from our room in the hotel hoping to see some spectacular sunset or sunrise but the clouds won't let us.

The last pic of my other half is at Dataran Pahlawan (on Sunday night) for our dinner.

One of our main concern when we are away are our cats. We can't afford to put all our cats at the cat lodging; we only do that for the problematic cats. Good enough, my eldest son installed a cctv to watch how the cats are doing.