I got the best birthday present ever yesterday: my wife delivered a healthy baby boy on the 9th of November, my birthday and my uncle’s birthday. His name is Muhammad Imran, born 1.30pm, 3.9kg (that’s a little more than 8 and a half pounds for you non-metric people). We opted for elective C-sec since the baby was transverse and never moved into a head-down position. During the procedure we learned why: the baby’s cord was wrapped around his neck AND wrapped around his leg. …

id Mubarak and Selamat Hari Raya one and all.
It was a very busy, very difficult Ramadan for me. I worked three weeks straight without a day off until the Friday before Eid, barely stepping into my neighborhood musallah all month. I lost around five pounds, putting me to my thinnest since I got married, and yet I’m as out of shape as ever – what’s up with that? As always though, the month is filled with its own blessings. On the work front, I got my …

BIM, the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement, is one of the oldest and strongest Islamic NGOs in Malaysia today. Founded in 1972, ABIM is influential on the national stage in lobbying for Islamic policies. It is the leading component organization in PEMBELA, an Islamic affairs pressure group. But its most recognizable effort on the ground is the Taski ABIM, a preschool and kindergarten operation with hundreds of locations around the country. Here in Kuching, ABIM runs five different branches offering morning and afternoon classes for 4,5 and …

s both of my regular readers are well aware, the major focus of this blog is whatever adorable thing my children happen to be up to at the moment. Nonetheless, I do try to intersperse that with other topics to keep things fresh, and so with that in mind I’d like to share with you this latest bit of news:

ho should come into town but HijabMan, fresh from a posh international wedding photography gig in Penang! Scarcely had he set foot in my house but my children were hopping around with balloon helmets, balloon flowers, balloon swords and balloon dogs (strictly halal). Uncle HijabMan knows how to get in good with the little ones.

Thanks to the largesse of the Malaysian government, I was able to bring my family for a one-month vacation at the end of last year. We brought the whole family, and our maid for good measure, and the nine of us went gallavanting from my brother-in-law’s in Tanjong Malim all the way to the Langkawi Archipelago, with stops all along the way. Believe me, when you travel with six small bladders, you stop All. Along. the Way.
Actually two of my brothers-in-law live in TM now, and …

Selamat Hari Raya and Eid Mubarak, everybody. It’s been a heck of a few months since I embarked on an overambitious home improvement project. The bricks began to fly in July with the demo crew, and it has been non-stop since then.

Selamat Hari Raya, Eid Mubarak to all! May Allah accept our worship over the Holy Month of Ramadan and bless us to make it to the next one. Maaf Zahir dan Batin. If Bin Gregory Productions or its author has done you wrong over the past year, knowingly or unknowingly, I humbly request your forgiveness.

Two more chicks have met their doom since last I wrote. Both were mauled by biawak attacks that I fended off too late. By the time I would race to the scene, shovel flailing, I could only succeed in denying the perp a meal, but could not save the lives of the victims. The first time, a chick was dismasted cleanly at the knee-joint. Though the bleeding stopped quickly, a legless chicken’s prospects are bleak: despite my ministrations, it was dead within three days. The …

I’ve returned from my vacation to the US. I couldn’t get any critical distance from which to write or observe while I was there; I was too busy enjoying being back. I did manage to take a lot of pictures though. You can view them in this Flickr set, America 2007. The most pleasurable aspect of the trip, after reunion with loved ones, must have been hearing and speaking my native English. Effortless communication – How we take it for granted! My friends were …