Antony’s Weblog

This is my last post in this blog. From now on, I won’t update this blog any more.

If you are still interested reading my blog, please visit the following blogs and subscribe the feeds:

• Antony’s Life Blog. A blog about my personal life, including my daily life, career and love.  If you want to know about my personal life, then this might be a starting point.
• Antony’s Personal Opinion. My personal opinions about many topics that interest me, including economy, finance, engineering, computer, etc.  They might jump from one topic to another completely different topic.
• Antony’s Mobile Blog. My personal blog about mobile phone technology and wireless industry.  The postings include mobile phones trends, tutorials and mobile development.
• S60Tips.com. A blog about tips, tricks and tutorials of using S60 phones.  S60 is a smart phones platform from Nokia, based on Symbian OS.

About 6 weeks ago, I applied for extension of my working permit in Canada. The reason is because my current working permit will be expired in the next 2 months. Besides that, I have to go back to my home country for my wedding. I thought it would be better to apply for an extension 4 months in advance.

Yesterday, I received my new working permit. Great! I can work in Canada until 2009. But… wait a second. There is a sentence written in a big font on my working permit. "This does not authorize re-entry". What the h*** is that? I can work in Canada, but I cannot go out and then re-enter Canada?

This morning, I called CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canadian) to clarify it. They said that working permit authorize me to stay in Canada until 2009. However, I cannot go out from Canada and then re-enter Canada during that time frame. If I want to do that, I have to apply for TRV (Temporary Resident Visa).

Ok, that’s fine for me. I thought it should be a bunch of forms to fill out (not again… :(). Then I ask the person on the line, how can I apply for TRV from within Canada? She put me on hold for a couple of minutes. Perhaps she is trying to find out more information.

A couple of minutes later, she came back to me. She said I have to apply TRV from my home country or from the US.
There is no immigration office in Canada that issue TRV. Oh my God… what is the logic behind this???
Well, I think this is my worst experience with immigration process. When I worked in Germany, they issued working permit within 5 days and resident visa within 10 minutes. For the extension, I just need to come to an office and get a new stamp in my passport (also in 10 minutes). When I worked in Singapore, they issued working permit within 3 weeks and resident visa within 1 day. I just need to go to Ministry of Man-power (MOM) office.

Can’t CIC make immigration process easier and faster? There should be something they can do to speed up the process.

Another thing I would like to point out. Currently I have a PR (Permanent esidence) application in Canada. It has been processed for 1 year and 4 months. And still… I still don’t have Canadian PR until today. My friend told me 1 - 2 years is quite normal for PR processing.

I hope someone from CIC read this and do something to make the process faster. I don’t know why they need 6 weeks (only) to extend my working permit.

Don’t you agree that the whole world should be able to study for free?  Recently I am calculating how much money I have to spend if I would have a child that want to study engineering/science in the university.  Fortunately, I don’t have a child yet.  Puih….

We all know that education is so expensive.  It may not be going cheaper either.  So we have to prepare education for our children as early as possible.  You may say that there are a lot of student loans these days.  But living from a loan or credit is not a good habit.  I have been trying myself not to live from credit, except mortgage.  Of course, there is a possibility to apply for scholarship too, but not all students are eligible for that.

Now, let’s see how much is the tuition fee for several universities in the world.  Assume that my child is going to study computer engineering (undergraduate degree) as international students.

• University of British Columbia, Canada
  Tutition fee: C$ 21,093 / year ~= US$ 18,341 / year
• University of California Davis, USA
  Tuition fee: US$ 17,304 / year
• National University of Singapore, Singapore
  Tuition fee: S$ 22,420 / year ~= US$ 13,925 / year

As you can see, the tuition fee itself is more than US$ 10,000 / year.  If we include other costs, like room, food, books, etc., it will easily hit US$ 20,000 / year!

One possibility to get cheap education is going to a country where education is free, for example Germany.  I myself is a graduate from Germany and I enjoyed free tuition fee there.  Unfortunately, I heard that some German universities has started to apply for a small tuition fee.  It is not as expensive as other countries, but then not free any more.

Well, let’s prepare the best we can for our children’s education….

About two months ago, Budi Rahardjo, a security expert and famous blogger from Indonesia, posted an article, Why I should work for Google or Google should hire me.  Many people want to work for Google.  They are the fastest growing technology company in the world.  They just went public with IPO at $85 per share on August 19, 2004 and today their stock has soared to almost $400 per share.

We have seen that the best engineers and scientists in this planet have moved to Google, instead of Microsoft.  We all know that their working environment is perfect for idealist and brilliant people.  They have a corporate motto, "Don’t Be Evil".  They are not chasing money.  They try to solve problems in the right way.  Later, they will try to monetize their solution.  Look at Google’s home page.  So simple, no advertising at all.  Look also at Google’s tools.  All of them are free for users.

Back to the title of this blog, why can’t I work for Google?  A few months ago, one of Google headhunters contacted me.  She asked whether I was interested working for Google.  They are expanding to the mobile world, so they need some experts with mobile competencies.  Unfortunately I had a contract with my current employer for two years (until 2007).  I said to her that I couldn’t resign from my current employer.

Anyway, even if I would have had a chance for an interview, I don’t think I would be able to work for Google.  Here are some reasons:

• I am not young any more (31 years old this September).  Most of Google employees are young and fresh engineers/scientists with age of less than 30 years old.  In fact, I am only 2 years younger than Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
• We have to have full of ideas to work for Google.  I might be very strong in mathematics and engineering.  In fact, I was selected as Indonesian representative to the International Mathematics Olympic 13 years ago.  Unfortunately, I am not a creative person with lots of ideas.  I heard that Google employees are expected to allocate 20% of their time to explore any ideas that interest them.
• They are located at the heart of Silicon Valley.  I have a personal preference not to live in North America.  Although I am currently living in Canada, but I have a plan to go back to Asia someday.

Well… I love Google.  I am using most of their products and services.  If you read this blog, you will notice that I put Google’s AdSense too.

Many of my friends in Canada are amazed when they see me writing text messaging (SMS) on my mobile phone.  They say that I type text messaging very fast.  To be honest, I don’t feel that I can type that fast.  I have many other friends in Indonesia and Singapore who can type text messaging like crazy.  Perhaps text messaging is not so popular in North America, that’s why people don’t use it very often, thus they don’t type so fast.

Do you know who has the world’s record of fastest text messaging?  According to Guinness World of Record, a girl from Singapore, Kimberly Yeo Sue Fern, set the world’s record of fastest text messaging in year 2004.  During the competition, all the contestants have to write the following 160 character text in their mobile phone.  No "predictive text" functions (T9) or other spelling aids are allowed.

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.

Guess… how long did Kimberly need to write the text above?  Only 43 seconds!!

How about me?  I have tried to type the same text and it took me 1 minute 41 seconds (about 2.5 times slower).

If you read my blog regularly, you might notice that my English is not that good.  Yes, I realize that and I have been trying to improve my English, for example by blogging….

A few days ago, I said to my wife that I want to write a technical book in English.  She replied, "Your English is so poor.  Do you want to write book in English?"  Today, my cousin and my friend also spotted some mistakes in my web pages.

I know that I am not that good in English, unlike my wife.  She can learn new languages very fast.  She can speak four languages, i.e. English, Mandarin, Indonesian and Sundanese (one of dialects in Indonesia).  Everyone have their own talents, some of them are very good in language.  I have met a person who can speak 20 languages.  Unbelievable, huh?

So, what else have I been doing to improve my English?  I just borrowed a book, English Grammar in Use, from a library near my apartment.  Btw, my apartment is next to a library (5 minutes walk).  It is a good book to improve our English.  It contains a lot of examples and exercises.  The latest edition even has a CD too.

Now, I need help from you, especially native English speakers.  If you find mistakes in my blog, do not hesitate to contact me.  I would be happy to receive any feedbacks from you guys.  Help me to improve my poor English…

How much is the price of 1 liter box of 100% pure orange juice?  Why am I asking this question?  When I first came to Vancouver, Canada, I was very surprise because everything is so expensive here.  Worse, if you buy something, the listed price does not include taxes yet.  They have GST (Good and Services Tax) and PST (Provincial Sales Tax) here.  In total, we have to pay additional 14% of the listed price!!!  Fortunately, we don’t need to pay PST for some products, like some food products.

One the products that made me quite surprise when I first came here was orange juice.  I like drinking 100% pure orange juice (and also apple juice).  When I went to the supermarket, I just can’t believe looking at the price.  It is fantastically expensive.  Just for comparison, I would like to compare the price of 1 liter box of 100% pure orange juice in three different countries, i.e. Germany, Singapore and Canada.  Why these three countries?  It is simply because I have lived in those countries in the last five years.  I know this is not a fair comparison because the juice makers are different; thus the quality of each product may be different too.

• Country: Germany (Stuttgart, Bochum)
  Brand: Rio Doro
  Supermarket: Aldi
  Price: EUR 0.49 (tax included)
  Price in US$: $0.41
  
• Country: Singapore
  Brand: Ceres
  Supermarket: Fair Price
  Price: S$ 1.65 (tax included)
  Price in US$: $1.02
  
• Country: Canada (Vancouver)
  Brand: Sunrype
  Supermarket: SaveOnFoods
  Price: C$ 1.99 (tax excluded)
  Price in US$: $1.71

As you can see here, the price of orange juice in Canada is about twice more expensive than Singapore.  Note that the price in Canada does not include tax yet!

Some of you from Canada may argue that SaveOnFoods is one of expensive supermarkets in Canada.  I can give another example.  When I bought the same orange juice from Costco, 12 x 1 liter of orange juice costs C$15.99 (excluding tax).  It means 1 liter of orange juice costs C$15.99 / 12 = C$1.33 = US$ 1.14.  It is more expensive than Singapore!  Just for your information, we cannot buy 1 liter orange juice in Costco.  We have to buy 12 liters (= 12 x 1 liter) because they always sell products in large quantities.

As I said, the comparison of orange juice may not be so far.  Let’s take a look at another product, i.e. a chocolate bar.  I use one of my favorite chocolate, Ritter Sport.  How much is the price of 1 Ritter Sport chocolate in each country?

• Country: Germany (Stuttgart, Bochum)
  Supermarket: Lidl
  Price: EUR 0.85 (tax included)
  Price in US$: $0.71
  
• Country: Singapore
  Supermarket: Fair Price
  Price: S$ 2.70 (tax included)
  Price in US$: $1.67
  
• Country: Canada (Vancouver)
  Supermarket: SaveOnFoods
  Price: C$ 2.19 (tax excluded)
  Price in US$: $1.88

Once again, this may not be a fair comparison because Ritter Sport is a German chocolate.  The price is, of course, much cheaper in Germany.  However, if we compare the price between Singapore and Canada, then Canada is still more expensive (even when tax is excluded).

Note: I have a comparison of living cost between these three countries too.

I am proudly announcing our wedding site, http://www.antonypranata.com/wedding.  You can find information about our wedding, including groom and bride’s story, pre-wedding pictures, etc.  Not all pages are complete yet, but you can already read some stuff there.

About two weeks ago, I did my third biggest investment in my life.  What is that?  A car.  Finally… for the first time in my life, I have a car (after more than 30 years living in this "complicated" world).  May be you are asking, what are the first and second biggest investment in our life?  Some people say their first biggest investment is house.  Some others say kid (or kids) is their biggest investment; and house is the second one.  For me, car is not really an investment because the value is deprecating as time goes.

So what is my experience buying my first car?  It was a very long journey actually….  I have to take 5 times driving license within 5 months.  I was very stressed at that time because I failed my driving test several times.  Thanks God… I got my Canadian driving license on February 20, 2006.

After I got my driving license, another problem came when buying a car.  I am still new in Canada; it is not that easy to apply for financing.  They always ask these questions, "Who are you?", "How long have you been here?", "Do you have a permanent job?", etc.  It is quite understandable because so many Canadians apply for financing, then later on they cannot pay their monthly bill.  There are some people who apply for financing and then left the country.  Finally I decided to pay my first car in cash…. :(  Fortunately, I bought a used car, not a new car.  I couldn’t imagine if I buy a new car.

The next thing is warranty and insurance.  The car dealer tried to sell extended warranty and other things, like alarm, "cheap" oil-change program, etc.  Fortunately, he could not convince me to buy those things.  The insurance company also tried to sell many different policies.  The insurance people tried to scare me… this and that might happen and blah, blah, blah….  He knows that I am a new comer in Canada, so he may think, "Aha… stupid person".

Now, what is my experience driving my first car?  Honestly, I don’t really like driving.  We hear accidents happen everyday in Greater Vancouver.  It scares me.  About three weeks ago, there was an accident near my office.  Five cars were involved in the accident and two people were killed.  The interesting thing, the maximum limit in that area is 50 km/h only!  Unfortunately, we need to have a car in Canada; otherwise life will be very difficult.  Many places are not pedestrian friendly and the public transportation is so bad.  This one thing I don’t like about Canada.

It’s been more than 1/2 year since my first day living in Canada.  I cannot believe that I have been using credit card very extensively in the last 7 months; more than I have ever used it in my previous life.  Interesting, huh?  Living in North America makes me addicted of using credit card, which is not good habit (from my opinion).  Why?  We pay or buy something, but we don’t actually pay them at that time.  We pay them when we received the bill (usually next month).  Even after we have received the bills, we are not required to pay 100% of the bills.

Unlike people from other countries, American and Canadian like to use credit card very much.  I have received many junk mails offering credit cards with so many ‘benefits’.  I have got an offer of credit card from some stores too.  They said that I will get some points when I use their credit card to shop in their stores.  Fortunately… I am not tempted to apply for new credit cards.  Unlike some people who are proud of having so many different credit cards in their wallets; I feel comfortable having only one credit card.

When I lived in Indonesia, Germany and Singapore, I used credit card mostly for Internet transaction.  I usually used debit card more often than credit card.  Why don’t I use debit card in Canada too?  Good question….  I don’t why Canadian banks have very "stupid" policy.  They limit the number of our transactions per month, for example my bank gives me the limit of 10 transactions per month.  Once I exceed the number of transactions, the bank will charge me some transaction fee.  There are some banks that offer unlimited transactions but they charge very high monthly fees.  I would say this is stupid policy because I have never paid monthly fee for my banks, except in Canada.  Usually they give me interest, rather than charging so many fees.  That’s why I have to use credit card here if I don’t want to pay "stupid" fees from my bank.

Since I don’t like using credit card, I have to find a way so that I don’t feel "guilty" when buying something.  I have found a trick that works for me.  Here is the trick: I always put some amount of money in my credit card account.  Instead of I owe the bank, now the bank owes me.  Basically I am actually using it as debit card.  Unfortunately I don’t get interest for doing that….

I have one suggestion for all of you who have credit cards: DO NOT use credit card (if possible).  It is really not a good habit….