Filed under: ramblings
Today marks the first day of my 9th year in this country… I’ve lived 1/3 of my life here, away from home.
I remember that that first night in Pittsburgh 8 years ago, I went to "the office", where everybody used to hang out for a potluck or bbq gettogether. And then on tv we suddenly saw the breaking news about Princess Diana’s accident…
I was thinking of posting a picture from my time in Pittsburgh.. but couldn’t find any … thanks to those stupid free webhosts.. I used to store a lot of pictures on my old websites on Tripod/Lycos and Geocities and they deleted everything!!! Sigh – because of account inactivity I guess. I have yet decided on a good photo storage / sharing website that is stable, reliable, and guaranteed to stay for a long time. There are so many to choose nowadays. Yahoo’s. Shutterfly. Flickr. Fotki. Webshots. Smugmug. Even Friendster added a Photo Gallery picture now. The most recent one I used is Multiply’s. I also have a bunch of pictures on Snapfish. I don’t like it that they’re scattered around like that. I really want one central location where I could store all of my digital photos including the old ones. Need to find a good host that has good features and also the ability to order prints, and the price has to be good too.. *jangan jauh2 dari harga walmart* … hehe maybe I could use some Six Sigma tools to compare and decide on which service to use :p
Hmm maybe in the next few days I’ll recap my memories and experiences during the last 8 years in the States :p Hopefully with pictures if I could find them ^.^
Filed under: ramblings
Rear main seal shouldn’t blow on 2001 Honda Civic
If only I’d read that article first before taking my car back to Renners……
My car is a 2001 Honda Accord at 52k miles…a better car than the Civic described in the article. Well.. the past few days I was really pissed at the local Honda dealer/service here, but I just couldn’t say anything rude or demand anything from them no matter how much I want to say some stuff… I just couldn’t do it.
It all started 2 weeks ago when I brought my car there for a maintenance service. Just regular oil change + top off the fluids. I was told that the technician noticed something was leaking but they didn’t know what it was and they didn’t have time to check it that day, so I needed to come back in a couple of days. So I did, I left my car there for a whole day, and when I came to pick it up, they said they were sure that it was the rear main seal that’s leaking but they couldn’t fix it because they didn’t have the part. They had ordered the part and would call me back when it arrived. I asked whether it’s safe to drive it to Chicago and the service rep said Yes, my car was driveable, the leak was nothing major, shouldn’t be any problem.
So after the Chicago trip, I got a call back that they had the part they needed, and I could bring my car in on Wednesday. I also asked for an estimate, and she said, "Hmm probably around $300 because they would need to take out the transmission". I dropped my car early morning, and when I came back, guess what ? They said sorry they didn’t have time to work on it at all !! "I’ve been trying to reach you all day", she said. Yeah, of course. I decided to just leave my car there overnight. I got a ride home from Magda and the next day a ride to work with Magda and Yuldi.
So, Thursday evening, I went there for the 4th time in 2 weeks to pick up my Accord and yep it was ready. The cashier gave me a bill of $520 !!! I couldn’t do anything but gave her my credit card. The service dept was closed because it was late, but from the bill I could see that it was 6 hours of labor at $79/hour + $15 for the oil seal ( the part they had to order ) + $20 for the oil. I was upset having to pay that much for a problem that I didn’t even see .. but well what could I do at that point ?
And the nightmare had just begun… I immediately felt something was wrong within a minute of driving my car. It felt heavy and slow. The transmission wasn’t smooth. *tersendat2*. The engine check light turned On. The TCS light turned on. The "D4" gear light was flashing, and when I switched gear to Neutral or Park, the D4 light kept flashing. The odometer wasn’t moving. The trip odometer was reset at 0, and I noticed it stayed at 0 although I’ve driven it 3-4 miles.
I called them back Friday morning and she wasn’t exactly being helpful. I asked when I could bring in my car back because I really wasn’t comfortable driving my car. They messed up !! She’s like "oh we’re busy till Monday"…. I said again that something is really wrong with my car! It was OKAY before, and they told me that they need to fix something, and I paid over $500 for it, and now it’s like this ??? So finally she said, "Ok come in at noon!"
All day I was telling my coworkers about this, and Bob, my Master Black Belt gave me a pep talk about how I should not take any crap from them 
They’ve overcharged me for a problem that wasn’t exhibiting any external symptom. I should have asked for their explanation for why it was that expensive. I should demand a rental car if I couldn’t get out with my car that evening. It would be inconvenient for me to bump rides all weekend ( hehe I’d been bumping rides several times that week). He also said I should ask to talk to the manager even threaten to call the 1-800 Honda satisfaction number bla bla bla blabla….Of course eveything he said makes perfect sense, I should have done all that. But it’s just not me. Oh how I wish yayank was there with me 
In the afternoon Bob even offered to gave me a ride there to check on my car. I actually called them first but was put on hold for several minutes and because this was not my first time, I just gave up. So, Bob just said, "Let’s go there now!" When we got there, they still hadn’t had a chance to look at it because she said they only had 1 technician in and he was busy with all the scheduled appointments. I could see the service rep attitude changed a little when Bob asked her "Are you going to fix it today?". Different from when she’s talking to me who can only say "Ok" and "Ok".
Anyway, to make this story shorter.. I finally got my car back Saturday morning. Everything seems fine now. Of course I didn’t have to pay anything extra. I wouldn’t pay if they’d asked. It was them who screwed up !
Now after doing some readings on the net, I really didn’t know if it was really the main rear seal that was leaking ( or if there was any leak at all). Even if the rear main seal was leaking, now I know that it wasn’t really problem. I could have chosen not to fix it. Had I been robbed $520 ??
Filed under: ramblings
Hope you have a wonderful birthday with your loved ones ! I think this must be the first bday in Indo since 199.. ? hehehe
Filed under: ramblings
This week I’m taking a break from k-dramas The past few months I’ve been downloading and watching k-dramas non-stop. As soon as I got home I would check my downloads, before I went to bed I checked again, and before I went to work I also would check my downloads. It was crazy. And if my harddrives started to get full, I would burn the films into cds. I probably burned 15-25 cds each week K-dramas was taking over my life hehehe… I even abandoned my precious cable TV. I haven’t tuned in to anything for months! I could have disconnected my cable for the past 4 months and I would NOT have missed it :p ! 
But I turned off my pc last weekend, and haven’t touched it again till today. And as a result, I’ve been getting good night sleeps for the past 3 nights hehehe I also had a chance to watch some tv. Watched some MTV, VH1, Style Network, and TLC :p I think the new seasons of network TV shows are going to begin soon too.. I really need to start cutting back on my addiction to kdramas ..
Hehehe actually I think I’ve transmitted my addition to Nonnie .. ^__^ Ever since I told her how to get these wonderful dramas from d-addicts using bittorrents.. she’s been downloading and watching some of them too 
She finished a series in a weekend .. hueuhee quite surprising for me.. for someone who’s new to tv series I think she’s finished 4 series in the last month.. one per week ! That’s 16 hours each ! hehe Welcome to da club Non :p
Friday night – dinner @ Saigon, Lafayette with Nicky & Budi .. it was unplanned.. until around 8pm when I got a call from them.
Saturday morning – a couple hours @ Chicago Botanic Garden
Lunch @ House of Sushi & Noodles – very average sushi. Not recommended.
afternoon – Downtown Chicago
- Lincoln Park Zoo
- Michigan Ave.
- Buckingham Fountain
- Grant Park Orchestra & Chorus @ Millenium Park
Dinner @ Noodles in the Pot – good food, but I’ve had better Thai food
Sunday morning – Dimsum @ Phoenix, expensive… maybe we ordered too much :p
now I can’t wait till Labor Day ..
Filed under: ramblings
tujuh belas agustus taun empat lima..
itulah hari kemerdekaan kita..
hari merdeka.. nusa dan bangsa
hari lahirnya bangsa indonesia .. mer.. de.. ka!
hehehe today is indonesia’s 60′th birthday. I almost forgot about it until just now when my youngest brother said that he was leaving to attend an "upacara bendera" @ the indo embassy. He said that all indo students in singapore are excused from school today because of this. They all go to attend the ceremony and then get a free buffet lunch of indonesian food hehehehe
Speaking about Lung", tomorrow is his bday. His bday is August 18th, and he’s turning 17! So young … that just reminds me that I’m getting older and older Btw he’s been accepted to Shoreline College in Seattle for next January. I can’t believe my baby brother is going to college soon !
Filed under: ramblings
I have this recurring dream of being back in school. sometimes college, but more often high school where I could see my friends from SMP and SMA, I think I’ve even dreamed about my friends in SD. These dreams come to me pretty often; Well, not everyday, but probably every few weeks ? But it’s not really the same dream each time, but after having so many of these.. I realize that they have something in common.. that is about me struggling to graduate from school.. weird huh ?
Funny that in some of them I actually "know" that I already have a college degree, but for some reason I was still attending those classes Like I said before typically it’s about my *problems* keeping up with school. For example, there’s an exam in a couple of hours and I haven’t studied at all. Or there are a bunch of homework due that I haven’t done. Or it’s the end of the semester ( and maybe last semester before graduation ), but I’m failing a class I haven’t been to that class for the whole semester because I didn’t know that I’m registered for that class…
Now what do these dreams mean ? hehehe dunno.. Hendrik said it’s probably because I never really "finished" high school and just yesterday I had this same "theme" in my dream hehhe well who knows why .. is it that deep down inside I really want to go back to school ? hehehe i don’t think so ^__^
What a tiring weekend. I drove 4.5 hours to Chicago Friday night after 4 hours of community service doing a housing project. I picked Meggie in W Lafayette on the way. We stopped by Chinatown’s Joy Yee’s for supper and finally arrived at Tin’s new place at 11.30PM.
For Saturday we actually didn’t have any plan other than eating All-You-Can-Eat sushi :p We thought we’ll just take a stroll somewhere for a few hours to prepare our stomach ^__^. We went to Westfield’s Old Orchard mall, which is probably my fave mall in Chicago. The outdoor atmosphere was just so nice. After a few hours of shopping, we decided that we’re ready for the sushi feast :p
So of off we went to Sushi Para in Dundee Rd, Palatine. We quickly jumped into the AYCE lunch menu. $14.95 we could order all we want but will need to pay for leftovers. No idea how they measure the leftovers though. We ordered miso soup & gyoza for appetizer, and then we went crazy ordering 9 pieces of nigiri sushi and 5 different maki sushi. While waiting for our food, we checked out the other menus. The dinner AYCE selection was almost double and it’s only $2 more. *Somebody* made the comment that we should have waited another 1-2 hours and just go for dinner :p Anyway we also realized that there’s this Lunch Special for $10.95 that includes any 3 rolls + miso soup. So had we chosen the lunch special, for $10.95 x 3, we would get 9 rolls !! *Rugi dong kalo kita cuma pesen 5 rolls* We must order more !!! hehehehe
I couldn’t find much info on the net about this place. But I found the menu for Sushi Para II, I guess it should have the same owner. The sushi was good. I would definitely choose this place over Todai for the sushi. I never thought Todai’s sushi is any good anyway. I go there for the variety. I love their hot foods and dessert stations :p Btw the picture to the right is not a picture of the sushi that we had
After lunch we went to see the Dukes of Hazzards @ Loews Streets of Woodfields. I’m glad we went early because it’s not worth the regular price, which is $9.75. ..we saw the 5PM show, but it was still $7.25.. not cheap either *_*
Afterwards we checked out Nordstrom Rack. Hehe my first time there, the place looked like TJMaxx. Messy. The only difference was probably that it had more branded items. I saw a girl grabbing a $995 Marc Jacobs bag, and that’s already the discounted price. A bargain ? :p Then we killed time in the next door Borders bookstore to wait for dinner time :p … When we felt ready to eat again we went to Wonton Gourmet. It’s been ages since the last time I went there. Probably 4 years ago? It still has the best wontons ! Yumm.
Sunday we were considering of going to Aurora’s Premium Outlet. But we dropped it because it is too far. I didn’t want to have to drop Tin" back to her place. That’s a waste of at least 1.5 hours. And she didn’t want to drive in a separate car either. The other thing was we didn’t know of any good place to eat nearby. So we just glanced at the atlas and picked a random nearby mall. We found Northbrook Court, just 15 minutes away from Tin’s. It’s a pretty nice mall, but it was very empty :p After lunch at Stir Crazy Cafe @ the mall, we returned to Indiana.
… and it took me almost 6 hours to get home !! Aargh stupid traffic congestion. I was stuck for an hour in Chicago, and another in I-65 because of an accident. Although I was very tired I watched some Korean drama as soon as I got home. And nonstop till 2 AM. Imagine how sleepy I was Monday morning at work =__= .
The highlight of the weekend was definitely the sushi
Filed under: geek
Because I’ve been watching Korean dramas excessively, I’ve picked up a few Korean phrases here and there. And I’ve been using them in my conversations with Hendrik hehehe. He suggested that I should really learn more about it, so that at least i get something out of this ‘useless’ hobby of mine. I’ve always enjoyed learning a foreign language (well I am writing in a foreign language right now) and I still hope that one day I’ll be able to speak Mandarin fluently :p
I’d always thought that the Korean language sounds so weird, their intonation is also weird. The first Korean series that I watched was Endless Love (aka Autumn Love
Story ) and the vcd had dual audio (original Korean and Mandarin dub).
I chose Mandarin since it’s easier to digest Plus, Indonesian subtitlers are horrible *vcd bajakan sih* !! If I had chosen to listen the Korean
version, I wouldn’t have caught all the mistakes in the translation,
and some conversation would just not make any sense. The way they raise their tone up/down is different with Chinese or Japanese. I couldn’t tell whether somebody is asking a question, calling somebody, etc. It was just hard even though there’s English / indo subtitles, I couldn’t match the subtitles with what’s actually coming out of people’s mouths. I guess it’s because it was totally new to me that time.
Obviously now my ears are well adjusted to hearing a Korean conversation. Although I don’t understand it still, they didn’t sound weird anymore, and I start to pick up phrases. I’ve also realized how some words are very similar to the Chinese counterpart.
after google.. wikipedia.. google.. Intro to Korean
I found out that …
1. More than 50% of Korean vocabularies are ‘borrowed words’ from Chinese.
2. The language was originally written using Chinese characters. They call it Han-ja ( we call it Han-zi in Chinese). Up to today, South Korean high schoolers are still required to learn 1600 Hanja.
3. They still use Hanja to write personal names. Now it makes sense how those all those Korean actors and actresses names could be read in Chinese as well.
4. In the 15th century, their King invented the the Korean alphabet (Han-geul). Do you know that Korean is the only Asian language with an actual alphabet, meaning there are letters and you put them together to form syllables then words?
After spending some time reading about Hangeul, I think it is easy to learn. I definitely could memorize these characters… just for fun ! ^__^ There are only 24 characters to remember ! 14 consonants and 10 vowels. It’s even less than the Latin/Roman alphabet .. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z –> there are 26 of them. So in order to read Hangeul, I only need to memorize 24 different characters.
At the moment I already could recognize about 50% of them, so once I master these characters, I’ll be able to read Korean!! hehehe but of course understanding is another thing… the hard part will be learning the vocabs ( just like Japanese’ hiragana / katakana, once upon a time I could read
them, but had no clue what they meant :p.. but now they’re almost completely out of my head ) hehe but still, wouldn’t it be cool if I could at least read them ?? so the next time we go to a Korean restaurant, I’ll be able to read the korean menu hehehe.. For sure I’ll be able to read Bulgogi, Galbi, BibimBap, and Japchae hahaha
