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For the last couple of months, in my mind, there’s a crossroad ahead of me. Mainly because my wife and son will be going back to Indonesia for 2 months, and it’s bugging me how I’m gonna miss them. This had me thinking about life, what I wanted to do, how I wanted to go through it.

Of course, I’m thankful for my job right now, and it’s quite interesting, but it doesn’t allow me the flexibility of spending time with my family when I want, and doesn’t allow me to determine how I’m going to spend my time. I leave at 7, come home at 5.30, spend time with family, and repeat. I’m not sure what’s wrong with the North American lifestyle, but it’s quite monotonous and can get boring after awhile. Compare this to where I grew up, Indonesia. You work a whole day, and yet in the evening, there’s many more interesting things to do, and somehow it’s not as… boring.

Which presented me with some choices, will I continue to struggle here in Canada and hope we get over it after a few years, or will I go back to Indonesia; and if I do go back to Indonesia, do I work or start my own business? There are pros and cons for everything, so it just depends on where my heart is I guess. Maybe I’m just emotionally drained because I won’t have my wife and kid with me for the next 2 months, but somehow I think I would enjoy having a more exciting and non-monotonous life in Indonesia. So right now, in my mind, the choice is to go back to Indonesia within a few years.

To do that, my plan is to finish my contract position at the Government of Ontario, which will give me a total of 6 years working experience, and get a certification (they value certifications a lot over there). So when I go back to Indonesia, I have a fall back plan just in case my business is not running yet. With 6 years experience, I can get into a multinational company at a manager level with a salary of around $2500 Canadian, and live quite comfortably. In the meanwhile, I’ll also be pursuing opportunities to start my own business, with a couple of friends who have the same interests, and try to get that started. We’d be doing export and import trading between Asian countries and North America.

My own business is the end target of all this. By having my own business, I can take control of my own income, as well as eventually spend time whenever I want with my family. Of course I realize that at the beginning, owning a business will be tough on time with the family, and that’s another reason I want to do this in Indonesia and not in Canada. In Indonesia, we will have more hired help around the house, and can spend more time with each other, whereas here, if I’m busy spending time doing business and my wife cleaning the house and taking care of the children, it would be quite bad for our family relationship.

So, that’s the goal and master plan for the next 3 years or so. This could change, depending on what God wants us to do and where He wants us to be, but I’m planning on taking action as I’m quite fed up with the lifestyle I have right now. Major changes on the way I think, but in the long run this should be more exciting and better for the family.

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So for the last week or so, I’ve had to deal with lots of customer service people regarding address changes. They call themselves different things, business operations associate, owner, etc, but in function, they are performing customer service.

With Bell, as everyone knows from my 2 previous posts, I’ve encountered really bad customer service. They keep telling me one thing, but don’t show enough action to actually make me happy. What’s really bad is that they never ever once said sorry or bothered to notify me when the tech was delayed or not coming. They just kept on saying, we’ll have to re-schedule you and giving me time frames which was never kept. Because of this, I’ve un-subscribed from Sympatico and ExpressVu also. (To keep things fair, the customer service for both Sympatico and ExpressVu were very symphatetic and understanding of my situation.)

The mattress people have a similar problem to Bell. The guy was supposed to get there last night, and you guessed it, he changed it to today because of some stupid reason. Of course he decided to give us 4 pillows as an apology, but the same situation occurs. They kept saying one thing, but never did take action to deliver the product on time.

Here’s an example from this morning. After I got on my train and sat down, even before the train got out of the station completely, it broke down. 10 minutes later, an announcement was made that we all had to walk to the end of the train because only the last carriage was still on the platform. To add to this, we were told that the next train that came into the station would wait until all of us got on. So I walked in line to the end of the train, and guess what happened when I got out? The other train closed their doors and left. Half of our train were told to wait for the next one 10 minutes behind. Wonderful customer service ey? Tell us that the train would wait for us, and leave. In addition, no word of apology at all.

Which brings me to my question on customer service: Is it really just a service where companies try to diffuse a bad situation by telling customers BS? I mean, in all these cases, I was told by customer service people one thing, and something worse happens. Of course we can find many exemplary customer service people, but I just find that in lots of large companies especially, customers are treated like a number. If we complain, then tell us what we want to hear, even though it might not be the truth or possible, which of course makes us even angrier when we realize that we were lied to. I don’t know how some companies live with bad customer service when it’s taking away lots of business from them.

Oh well, just a Friday afternoon rant from me

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OK, to continue my rant from the previous post, here’s a rant about Bell and some movers.
The next day after we got stood up by the Bell technician and mattress movers, I called Bell in the morning. (Note: My wife called last week to add my name to the account and give them our contact number while we don’t have a phone). The customer service officer apologizes and says that it’s apparently been re-scheduled for that day between 6 and 9. She also says that my name is not on account and they don’t have a contact phone on file. Well, apparently their system just doesn’t save after updates, since my wife specifically told them the week before about the changes. So I put my wife on a conference call and get this solved.

So at 6 o’clock, I’m at my condo waiting for the mattress guy and Bell guy to come in. 7.30 pm, no Bell guy, no mattress guy, I have a bad feeling that this is going to be just like the day before. I call the mattress guy, and he confirms that delivery is still on. I call Bell guy, says that it’s still on but to call back at 8.45 if nothing happens yet. So we keep on waiting until 8.45. I call Bell, and the person says that the tech is overloaded and I need to call in the next day and make another appointment. My wife calls mattress guy, and he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, so he gets an earful from my wife about being a professional business guy and knowing how to deliver goods on time

Today, I call Bell and guess what? Apparently, after being told that they weren’t gonna make it last night, a tech indeed went to my condo at 9.25 ! I complain that I was told to re-schedule today and that the time frame was 5 to 9, not 9.25. Guy says that next appointment would be Aug 16. I blow a gasket, since this is really bad customer service. I mean, they stood us up twice in a row, had no courtesy to let us know by contacting us, wasted 6 hours of our time which should have been spent moving, and now they tell me that I have to wait almost a week for the tech to come in ??? How could you act this way to customers and expect them to be loyal to you? I’ve got satellite, phone and internet service with them, but apparently a small customer like me doesn’t really matter to them. So I just cancelled all my services with Bell, and I’m gonna try my hardest to let everyone know about this. Probably an emotional and naive thing to do, since I can’t get any phone service now (Sprint and Primus don’t have service in our building yet), but at least I’m not doing any business with Bell for now. I’ve decided to get a Internet phone connection to replace a land line, hopefully I can get this done soon.

As for the mattress guy, there’s still no news right now, and I’ll be calling him soon.

How’s that for frustrating things to happen to you during moving?

On a happier note, our condo is beautiful. It’s a change going from a huge house to a small place, but it’s nice, no more mowing the lawn or shoveling snow, and less to take care of. It’s still mostly construction on the building though, and dusty/messy all around, probably gonna take a few months before it actually feels like a living place.

Technorati Tags : Bell, Bad Customer Service

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Phew, that was a long absence from blogging. Well, to summarize, I’m attaching an email I sent to a couple of buddies yesterday regarding our move from house to condo. It pretty much sums up what’s been going on the last few weeks, packing, getting ready to move, and on d-day … read for yourself

- On Monday, our lawyer said that by 10.am Tuesday, our keys should have been released (ie, their lawyer receive everything from our lawyer and tell the concierge that we can get our keys) – Monday 10AM : On my way to pickup truck, call concierge, receive notice that keys haven’t been released, wait few hours
Call lawyer, the secretary says “Oh, you guys were moving in today? I thought you weren’t” $#%andamp;%#^*%^* what the heck? Didn’t your boss tell me yesterday that my keys should be ready today? anyway, she proceeds to rush it through courier which should get to the builder’s lawyer at 12.30 at the latest. Well I think still good, coz I move at 1
- Grab the troops and load stuff into truck (cool truck, ramp, huge space)
- Finished loading stuff, still no news, get worried, call lawyer, concierge, builder’s lawyer, back and forth .. lost count how many times.
- 12.45 Our piano movers came and still no keys, so they hang around for a bit, and might start charging by the hour ($100 / hr.. dang.. we should be movers) if nothing happens soon
- ok.. I find out that the courier indeed delivered a package to the builder’s lawyer .. guess what IT WAS THE WRONG PACKAGE !!! Ok, by this time, I’m not sure what to do… I’m fuming, but I had a stomach ache since morning, back and forth to the washroom, so no energy left to scream and shout at anyone. Damn couriers
- The secretary said she’ll trace the package and get back to me asap.
- I call the concierge and ask if the piano movers can just put the piano in the loading area and leave. She says ok, so I tell the piano guys to go. Pay the $150 bucks for moving.
- Eat pizza… hmmm.. extreme cheese, bacon and mushroom + creamy garlic sauce…. yumm m
- Oops.. that wasn’t good for stomach.. back to washroom….
- 1.30 .. no news… start praying a lot
- 2.15 NEWS!!! …. BAD !!!!!! apparently piano wasn’t allowed in the loading dock by security, concierge made a mistake. They have to start charging by the hour now… arghh.. my wife makes a bargain to take the piano back for $50. OK deal… $200 for taking piano, take it for a ride and bring it back … wow.. people should start a piano walking service
- 2.17 (notice the 2 minute difference from last news) call secretary of lawyer, she calls and says package has been received, keys should be received anytime soon … damn..better try call concierge to stop those piano guys … … she runs after those guys. … 2.19 … those guys already left . I apologize profusely for keep bugging the concierge, but she’s a nice person…
- Call builder lawyer… keys have indeed been released.. … piano movers come back.. my wife makes another deal.. extra $20 to bring it back to condo. .. so there u go … poor movers back and forth u go ..
- We go to the building and move everything in 2.5 hours.
- OK, now by 5, we’re supposed to get our new mattresses… apparently it’s been postponed for 6 to 9 … and Bell guy supposed to come between 5 and 9.
- Call the mattress guy, says it’s today at 6 to 9 … so have to wait.
- I go home shower, change, come back at 6 … concierge says nobody came. So I wait till 7.30 .. Bell guy doesn’t come.. have a bad feeling that he’s not ever going to come that day even though Bell promised. Call Bell … ….. some stupid system being updated, call again later… decide to give up on Bell… leave for dinner with everyone at around 8.
- Get home at 10 … garbage not thrown… pack up garbage… find out that dollar store garbage bags.. are indeed that.. .GARBAGE … they tear very easily on the slightest bump, giving me more things to do like double pack stuff….
- Sleep at 11 30…

Well.. that was a really really long post. Next post coming up regarding more annoying people I encountered during move..

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Whew, a tiring weekend last week was, and yet it was quite interesting. At work, last week was pretty good; I managed to talk to a couple of people regarding .NET development projects. I also am working on a Cognos Impromptu project for a client. He’s seen the prototype and says that he’s impressed with it. So, I’m learning new things as I go, and am starting to enjoy my work even more now. The only thing I can say I’m not happy with is how much taxes are taken out of my pay every 2 weeks
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On Friday night, I met a buddy of mine, Davidandnbsp;from high school. We went to HS back in Wollongong, Australia and have kept in touch since. He also visited me 7 years ago when I was in Hawaii. He’s in Montreal right now and visited Toronto for the weekend. I picked him up at the airport and had dinner and caught up on lots of stuff. That was kinda nice.
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On Saturday I took my wife and son to a shopping mall in the morning, and went to a friend’s house far in the East end for a cell group meeting and BBQ. Surprisingly it only took 40 minutes, since there wasn’t really any heavy traffic anywhere. Lots of good food, had a great time with friends.
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Sunday, after coming back from Church, we managed to get a decent nap in the afternoon. I met Dave again in the evening for some dinner (he was leaving Sunday night) and more reminiscing of old times
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This weekend has been a mixed week. I’m pretty happy with work since I’m getting really comfortable with Cognos Impromptu, and making progress learning new things. As well, I’m having a bit of time improving my .NET skills, testing out Remoting and Threading. Maybe I’ll be able to go for my MCAD.NET after all in the near future. The only sad thing is my wife and son might be heading back to Indonesia for a couple of months in October, for her brother’s wedding. I can’t go because I just started work, so it’ll be kinda lonely if they do go. Well, my wife deserves a vacation after all she’s been through, taking care of our kid all day, and generally feeling very tired every day. I’ll still miss them a lot though.
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Well, that was my week and a bit. Hope to post some more soon.

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Argh.. what’s up with the weather in Toronto? 2 days ago it was hot, yesterday was cold, and today it’s hot again? No wonder people get sick so easily with a climate like this.

I was fine when I woke up yesterday, then went to the train station, parked and walked to the train. It was quite chilly and I didn’t have a jacket on. When I got on the train, I started getting a stuffy nose and sneezing. By the time I got to the office, I had a sore throat and knew that I was going to get a cold.

To make matters worse, when I got back home in the evening, my son had a cough and a runny nose, and didn’t sleep well at night. I ended up sleeping less than 3 hours, and had to call in sick to take my son to the doctor. And guess what? Our son’s doctor is away till Friday !!! grrr… Have to take him to a walk in clinic this evening.

Not a good day all in all, gonna take as much rest as I can.

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We finally sold the house, after a few weeks on the market. The price was on the lower end of the market for this area, but considering we don’t want any other hassles, it’s an OK deal. Now off to deal with the lawyers, fun fun fun

But it’d be great to finally move in to our new condominium. My wife went for an inspection last week, and found it to be quite small. It’ll take some getting used to, moving from a house with lots of space, to a condo unit with limited space, but it’s a nice unit and we’ll enjoy living there I think.

Now we also have to start thinking of what goods we are going to take there, and which ones we’re gonna put up for the garage sale. Hopefully we can have the sale before the end of this month, to clear up everything from this house.

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Ok, due to a spur of the moment, I actually went to Ebay and bought myself 5 invites to Google’s Gmail. After trying it for a bit, I find that it still has some delays here and there when performing operations, but it looks that it has lots of interesting features, like the conversations, labels and stars.
I’m still gonna keep trying out the different features, but it looks good so far.

On another note, Spymac also has lots of cool features, such as free hosting, blogging, forums etc. And one thing I just noticed is the “auto preview” feature (the one where you hover your mouse over the subject in Inbox, and it shows you the message). I totally enjoyed that feature, and wished that Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail would do the same thing. Maybe in the future.

So, it seems like all the big names are joining in giving us lots of free webspace. I guess it’s partly because storage space is becoming so cheap nowadays, and also partly competition between these companies. I can only say: “competition rules !!!”

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Wow! 3 weeks on the market and still no offers. Houses have been popping up for sale all around us, and have been sold already. This one house came on the market less than 2 weeks ago, and it’s already been sold.

Our agent has indicated that he thinks it’s almost time to lower the price (we did mark it up quite a bit), and try to get the best offer.

Anybody want a house?

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Ever been interested in reading a magazine by bloggers and for bloggers? Check out The Bloggist, a site pioneered by Jeremy Wright.

Jeremy’s asking people for opinions and suggestions, and in the near future get a magazine published. So go on and take a look.

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