ProbLog

Another Blog

2006-06-16T10:09:00.000Z

I set up another blog at multiply.
Because my high school friend had one, and when I checked out her blog, the blog site invited me to sign in. So I did. Now I have two blogs, and I'm not sure which one I will maintain. I'm too lazy to maintain my blogs.

2005 chronicles

2006-01-01T03:27:00.000Z

January

I passed my laboratory assessor training and examination. Now I'm officially a technical assessor for calibration laboratory. Actually, even before I got this training, I have already participated in assessments of calibration laboratories, as a “technical expert”. But now, I go as an assessor. Does it mean I'm no longer an expert? :)

I rekindled my long-time interest, cycling, by buying a bike. Not a fancy one, but not a cheap one either. I planned to ride with my sons some day: one would ride on the pannier rack (on the back), the other would ride on a child seat on the front. But I never got around to buy the child seats; instead, my sons – both of them – have been riding on the back pannier rack.

The end or beginning of the year are usually the time for organisations to conduct their annual coordination meeting. There was one that my office conducted, and then there was another one that my church did.

This months also saw me re-appointed to my position as a subdivision head. Only the name of the section is changed; before it was just “Dimensional Subdivision”, now it was “Length Metrology Subdivision”. New name, same job.

February

One of the church activists in my neighbourhood died. I didn't know him very well before, but after his departure, I learned how he is so much loved by the catholics in our neighbourhood. He died apparently after finishing all his duties in the parish and also after moving his family to a new home.

Finished translating a book on metrology – it was originally published by the European Metrology cooperation as a way of introducing metrology to the general people. It becames my little contribution in introducing metrology to the Indonesian people.

Our office recruited 13 new graduates. One of them became my staff member. This is the first time I actually had a staff member who is my junior (both in the sense of age and length of service). All of my other staff members were older and have served longer than me.

March

I visited Bontang in East Kalimantan (Borneo) to conduct an assessment on a calibration laboratory. It was my first to visit Kalimantan – in fact, it was the first time ever I went to any place in Indonesia outside Java or Bali. It was quite an interesting experience – I was able to see the diversity of my country first hand.

April

I started a blog. Not as an April fool pranks, but rather driven by a desire to join the bloggers' club. But will I be able to keep it updated? And more importantly, will I be able to get people to read it?

May

My first overseas trip this year – to Singapore. The local distributor of Mitutoyo measuring equipment invited me to visit Metal Works Asia, a trade show of manufacturing equipment and machines. I used the opportunity to visit Mitutoyo's Singapore office and met the directors.

June

The annual scientific meeting on Instrumentation and Metrology took place. This time it was coincided with the inaugural speech of three new research professors – it's the equivalent of professorial position for researchers.

I visited Medan in Sumatra for the first time, for a training at a coffee factory. I taught basic metrology principles to the staff, who were developing their measurement system to support their quality management.

July

School holiday. My sons spend their holiday (the eldest son's holiday, actually) at their grandparent's (my parents-in-law) home in Yogyakarta. They took a train with their grandma to Yogyakarta. Then a week later I drove down there to pick them up.

First day at school for Satrio, my second child. A pre-school, actually. He wasn't three years old yet, but he was always eager to go to school with his big brother, Bagas. So we decided to enrol him. He was so excited when he got his uniform!

High school reunion! This wasn't just any reunion; this is a reunion for all graduates of my high school's 50 years of operation. My parents are among the pioneering teachers of the school, so they got a place of honour during the celebration. I myself participated by giving a speech to the current students about my profession – it was a part of the celebration to give students some guidance to choose their future career.

August

Entered a choir competition at my local church. My team won second prize! Another first for me – first time entering a choir competition; first time as a conductor for my team too.

September

Travel to Korea for the second time. This time the occasion was the Asia-Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP) General Assembly and Technical Committee Meeting. This is the annual meeting for metrologists around Asia-Pacific where they discuss technical aspects of the science, as well as planning cooperative activities among members. But to me, at least it was a chance to visit Korea for the second time.

December

I hosted a [somewhat] international meeting under the APMP Developing Economy Committee (DEC) agenda. The meeting was for participants of a planned interlaboratory comparison of gauge block calibration. Participants came from Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Jordan, with coaches from Korea and financially supported by Germany. This was the first time I ever lead an organising committee, and I was only relieved that it went well.

On the last day of work for this year (before going for my annual leave) I did what I set out to do at the beginning of the year: riding bicycle to work! Finally I caught on with the B2W (bike to work) movement, if only for some other reasons: first, I've considered riding bike to work after the price increase of petrol; second, incidentally, my wife borrowed my car to pick up her friend at the airport, so I was forced to use other means of transportation. Anyhow, I arrived safely to office and back home in one piece, plus the mud I collected along the way because it was wet out there. If there was anything that I regret about the experience, it was just that I picked the wrong day to ride a bike!

Trip to Korea

2005-09-04T08:59:00.000Z

Yesterday evening I departed Jakarta for Korea via Singapore (flying SQ). This is my second trip to Korea. This time the event is the Asia-Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP) Technical Committee Meeting and General Assembly. The event is held in Jeju Island, south of South Korea.

Arrived at Hotel Hana in Jeju at about 4 pm. I checked in, and then went to the International Convention Centre to register for the conference.

More story tomorrow.

A surprise visit by a former president

2005-06-08T06:45:00.000Z

On 8th June 2005, my institution was celebrating its 38 anniversary. No fancy party was held; it was just a gathering of all staff members and the managerial personnel. After an open talk session, the director announced that we had a special guest: the former president Prof. Dr. Habibie. It sure was a surprise for all the people, considering several factors: first, that Mr. Habibie resides in Germany; second, it was not known that our director had any special link with the former president.

Anyway, we stood up and waited eagerly for his appearance. Finally our most famous technocrat appeared and took to the stage. He motioned us to sit down again and began his speech. He greeted us, and begun to talk about the history of Puspiptek, the science and technology complex that he built, and our institution, which was one of the pioneering tenant of the complex.

He then moved on to entertain us: he played violin and sung his favorite song, “Sepasang Mata Bola”. Then he played a saxophone, jokingly comparing himself to former US president Bill Clinton who is well known as a saxophone player.

Too good to be true?

Well, he turned out to be an impersonator – his real name was Budi Setiawan, a former employee of PT DI (Indonesian aircraft industry, who also happened to be one of Mr. Habibie’s pet project). So it was all a send up by our director, a practical joke on all of us, which he prepared and executed perfectly!

To top it off, our director came up on stage and sung “I started a joke”. Only this time, the joke was really on us.

A surprise call

2005-05-18T09:24:00.000Z

This morning I got a surprise call from an old friend. She is (was) my high school friend and she called me regarding our school's reunion. I was quite surprised by her unexpected call that I couldn't talk meaningfully with her. To add the pressure, she told me that she was with a bunch of schoolkids from our old school, apparently asking her to participate in "Career day" which will be held in conjunction with the reunion. What made me nervous was that she said she called me because the students asked her whom she went out with when she was in the high school, and immediately she called me on the phone.

I could even hear the students giggled when she mentioned that!

Well you may ask, why would the students interview her? Well, she's a celebrity of some sort for sure. She's made a trilogy of novel and another (or a few other) novel(s). She is now the Editor-in-chief of a women's (or girls') magazine in Jakarta.

You might as well ask, why would I be so surprised by her call? Was she or was she not my girlfriend? Did we really go out back then?

I can't give you a straight answer for that. Suffice it to say that we never actually declared ourselves as a 'couple'. We always maintained from the start (and until now) that we were just friends. Although our friends (and our respective families, for that matter) wouldn't believe it for sure.

I just picked up recently a (colloquial) Indonesian term to describe our (past) relationship: TTM -- that's Indonesian acronym for "temen tapi mesra" or "friends, but affectionate" :-)

Why start a blog?

2005-04-19T09:12:00.000Z

It was Budi Rahardjo who got me.

This quote (from InfoLinux 04/2005) should be famous by now:

Hah? Hari gini gak punya blog?

I think he's right, everybody ought to have a blog, even if just for the sake of having one.

So, what kind of blog is this? Well this the my-first-ever-blog-and-I-don't-have-any-other-blog kind of blog. Since I don't have my own dedicated homepage on which to gratify myself, this is also a kind of I-tell-all-about-myself blog.

About my work

2005-04-13T09:44:00.000Z

I work in a government research institute called "Research Centre for Calibration, Instrumentation and Metrology" which is part of "Indonesian Institute of Science". These two are often abbreviated Puslit KIM and LIPI, respectively, or KIM-LIPI for short.

KIM-LIPI is the [de facto] NMI (national metrology institute) of Indonesia. What's an NMI? Basically, an organisation that holds and maintains the highest measurement standards and makes it possible for the general public to calibrate their standards and measuring equipments against these "national" standards.

I am in charge of the Length Metrology Section, which holds length standards. If you want to know how long one metre is, ask me.

Besides working in the realm of my lab, I also visit other people's labs to carry out technical assessment of their competence in doing calibration. That is, I am an "Assessor" for Indonesia's national accreditation body, KAN.

I also teach short courses on length and dimensional metrology, measurement uncertainty, and laboratory quality management.

About me

2005-04-08T04:18:00.000Z

I was born in Bogor, Indonesia. Stayed there until finished high school. Went to Wollongong, Australia to study in 1991. Got a B.Eng.Hons in Electrical Engineering. Started work at KIM-LIPI (Research Centre for Calibration, Instrumentation and Metrology; Indonesian Institute of Sciences) in 1995. Went back to Wollongong to get a M.Eng.Hons in 1997. Returned to LIPI in 1999. Got married in 2000. In 2001 was promoted as Head of Dimensional Metrology. In 2004 officially became a Calibration Laboratory Assessor for KAN, Indonesia's Accreditation Body.

What's a PROBLOG?

2005-04-01T06:03:00.000Z

A problog is Probo's Log, that is.