The Week That Has Been

Of all the weeks spent during my industrial training here in Kuala Lumpur, the busiest week is most likely to be this week, with lots to do, lots to learn and lots to laugh!

My senior structural engineers had been so kind to invite me to come along for the SACS Software Training and I am very much gratified that he extended the invitation to me personally. SACS is a very important and powerful software that structural engineers use to model the offshore platforms and how they will be behave under different load conditions. It is a software that can simulate the deflections and any impending problems before the structures are actually fabricated, launched and installed.

I had a more enjoyable Monday and Tuesday when the training materials were light and easy to understand. It was on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (today) that the training materials got more and more difficult to comprehend. Most of us, even the current engineers, sometimes found it difficult to clearly understand everything that was said on the latter three days of training. More often than not we would require much clarification and verification on certain concepts.

Nevertheless, the whole training has been a very fruitful one for me, especially. Now that I have learnt how to use the SACS software, it will be easier for me to analyse a SACS model and understand the nature of the SACS software. I enjoy viewing the animation of the simulated platform when it is subjected to different load conditions.

I could actually hardly believe that I spent up to thirty-five hours learning about SACS and what it could actually do for me. Now that I have learnt to model the offshore platforms and performed certain simulations, I could actually appreciate the hard work that consultants are doing.

And due to the SACS training, I had decided to spend about two to three hours in office after working hours to complete on my weekly reports which were due to be submitted this week. Thankfully I managed to complete my weekly reports by Tuesday.

Thursday was quite a special day for a friend. Kee Siong finally reached 21 years old and a few of us friends decided that we would celebrate it for him. (Oh, but before that, last Friday was Ivan’s birthday. Too bad that he was in Port Dickson; nevertheless, I hope he found the card which I left for him on his table!) We went to Nando’s and had a wonderful time there laughing and poking fun at one another, talking about certain scandals of the month (if not the year)!

Tomorrow being a Saturday, I certainly am looking forward to a beautiful performance in the Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS. I sure hope that “Carmen!” will be a great hit tomorrow. After tomorrow’s show, I’ll be looking forward to Igudesman and Joo, together with the Kremerata Baltica, performing in the Dewan on the 16th of November.

Hmm… the end of the show tomorrow would also mark the end of October 2009, and I’ll only have another two months left in PETRONAS Carigali before I’ll be going home and continuing with my final year studies in UTP again. I wish I could have more time in the company, considering the fact that I have just begun, not very long ago, to really make myself feel so much at home in the company, and having people treating me like an engineer.

I’m happy to say that the engineers and managers in my department are friendly and full of laughter. It is indeed a very warm department which I believe I will miss very much upon my return to UTP.