September 20, 2007
Correction on AMEX rate
Whoops a quick correction on the exchange rate given by AMEX on my previous post. 13,760 was not the exchange rate. After a quick call to AMEX we established that their system is not displaying the full information. AMEX told me that the exchange rate on that day was 183.68 Rp per 1 GBP.
This doesn't make sense, unless you multiply everything by 100. See 13,760 is the actual amount of my spending which was Rp 1,3760,000. And the exchange rate at that day was £1 = Rp 183,680.
The AMEX system must not be able to cope with such a high exchange rate :) I wonder how they deal with Zimbabwean dollars.
Posted by vhadiant at 06:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 12, 2007
Horrible exchange rate from American Express
On my recent trip back to Indonesia & Sydney, I've used my two (UK) cards to pay & withdraw money from the cash machine. HSBC gave me a rather good rate at around Rp 18,300 for £1 and AMEX shockingly gave me a mere Rp12,600 for £1. That's insane! I can't believe how bad the exchange rate given by AMEX.
I made two purchase around the same amount in Indonesia, using my AMEX card cost me £18 more than HSBC card. This is a good lesson to be learnt, never ever use AMEX outside the original country of origin (in this case UK). I've been using AMEX locally because of its cashback feature, they're giving up to 1.5% back from your total purchase. Granted it's only 1.5% but it's better than nothing.
Anyway ... no more AMEX overseas for me!
Posted by vhadiant at 08:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 16, 2006
Project Mirage
Those who have seen my Red Mirage know how bad the paint condition is. The bonnet is the worst, since I never have a garage, the car has been in the sun for the past 5 years that I own it. Although it's well serviced and the engine is still in a top notch condition, I hardly look after the body work (wash and wax). Without proper wax, the paint has faded away. So for my Easter Project I decided to do something about it. During a quick visit to autObarn, the helpful sales guy recommended a polish with extra cut property. This supposedly cut through the topmost layer of the paint and restore the paint to its (almost) original colouring.
Well, since I have nothing to lose I decided to buy that $14 polish and started my project. This is my car's bonnet before the polish:
You can see the colour has faded and it looks disgusting. Armed with the polish and two very old white t-shirt I attacked the bonnet first. That's the ugliest bit in my car. This is the result halfway through:
It's already looking realy good. Of course I had to do the entire car so all the panels will have reasonably the same colour and I had to do the bonnet twice. Once I've done the entire car I finish it with a car wash and shine that I bought a while back from these guys.
Four hours and a very sore arm later, this is the result:
Damn it looks good :)
Posted by vhadiant at 07:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 21, 2005
Disturbing to say the least
This is just gold! It's waay too good not to be bookmarked hehehe.
Trucker charged in connection with bestiality deathA US truck driver, who filmed a friend having sex with a stallion in an act that killed him, has been charged with trespassing on a ranch used by bestialists.
Paul Tait will be the only person charged in connection with the death of his friend, who died of massive internal injuries after being sodomised by the horse at a stud farm near the north-western US city of Seattle in July, police said.
....
Posted by vhadiant at 12:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 16, 2005
Where to attack next?
This is really funny. Some video clip asking a few American where to attack next (presumably after Iraq):
You have to watch it until the end to get the joke, don't stop halfway through.
Posted by vhadiant at 08:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 16, 2005
Haggling for green slip
AAMI sent me my green slip bill for $498. Normally I wouldn't bat an eye and just pay the bill, in fact that's what I have been doing for the past 4 years since I bought my car, I didn't shop for insurance at that time. In fact it's crazy that I shop relentlessly for better price in miscellaneous cheap items, but as the price increases I care less and less about getting a bargain. It's stupid really, one thing that my good [and very money conscious] friend G* couldn't get over with (actually in the end she does and just accepted that it's me).
So this morning I don't know what inspired me to bitch about the my green slip's cost to my colleagues this morning. Maybe because I managed to got a free car speakers (which I couldn't use anyway) after bitching about the cost of the new new MP3/WMA car stereo that I bought a couple of days ago. Or maybe it was all the free lunches and drinks that our client is showering us making me think that I shouldn't really pay this much for anything.
Anyway [I'm babbling here] ... my colleague said he's with GIO and happy with them, so I went to their website to get the online quote, and guess what they quote me $398. I was fuming when I called AAMI demanded that they did something or else I'll vote with my feet. Luckily the dude on the other side of the phone was very friendly and told me that AAMI have a "new" test to calculate the fee, but it isn't applied to all the old customers. I wonder why ...
He asked me some questions and gave me the quote for
Posted by vhadiant at 09:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 20, 2005
Winter Solstice
Today is our Winter Solstice. The sun rise at 7:00 and set at 16:54, giving us a total of 9 hours and 54 minutes of daylight, the shortest it's going to be in this year.
Posted by vhadiant at 07:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 12, 2005
Singleton's day out
[via Richard BF]
Last Friday was my last day at Synop, so we ventured out to Ribs & Rump Gordon to have lunch and Singleton tagged along. As usual, he stole the show :)
Posted by vhadiant at 07:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 09, 2005
The falling standards of Australian University
The Herald is running a series of very interesting article about international students and Australian universities. Interesting to read, especially for me since I was an international student myself:
English tests faked to cheat on residency
With all the funding cuts from the government, international students are becoming more and more important for monetary purposes. The article reports that more universities are lowering their IELTS requirement for international students which some only ask for 6. Even the 6.5 standard that they have now is still too low. I had 7 on my IELTS and I still struggle during the first few months, heck I still struggle with English even today. 6.5 is bare minimum I think, 7 should really be the standard we need to use. If it were to me I will impose English school requirement for IELTS 7 and only let IETLS 8 to go straight to uni. Unfortunately the universities can’t afford it without their international student cash cow …
Interpretation of IELTS results: http://www.ielts.org/candidates/results/default.aspx
Posted by vhadiant at 07:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 02, 2005
Hottest April on record
It's official, April 2005 is the hottest on record. Our April is even warmer than March, the flowers are getting confused :)
It's a blooming mess as April marches us back to springtimeClimatologist Blair Trewin said the average for April, including maximums and minimums from about 100 sites nationwide, stood at 2.79C above the norm for the month.
"The average temperature will be a record by a very substantial margin," Dr Trewin said. He said the previous April record was 1.73C above average in 2002, and the previous biggest difference from normal in any month was 2.32C in June 1996.
...
In March, Sydney's maximum temperatures averaged 24.3C, whereas the April highs averaged 25.1C – 2.7C above the monthly norm. It is the first time since 1906 that an April has been warmer than March in Sydney.
...
Understandably, Frances Bodkin's Sydney black wattle is very confused. Normally flowering in late winter, it has already bloomed three times this year and now thinks it's spring again.
Whatever causing it, it's good. I prefer warmer weather and I think it's true for people in general. Let's hope the weather doesn't try to correct itself and pound us with the coldest winter in history.
Posted by vhadiant at 08:20 PM | TrackBack
Scrubs will end season 4 in a low point?
Just like I mentioned in my previous post about Scrubs, it has been going downhill since the beginning of this season (4) and now the last episode is an utter crap (My Drive By). It's a worry since this is the last episode before the season finale. The only redeeming scene in this episode is the Jesus H. Cox scene.
So what's up now with Scrubs? Well next season will see a main cast leaving the show and hopefully revitalise this once funny show. I can see that's its getting harder now, it was easier back then when all the doctors are still interns and goofy, now they've grown up and they can't do that many JD fantasy sequence anymore. Darn that's the bit that I love the most about Scrubs. Waiting for the season finale now
Posted by vhadiant at 08:01 PM
April 29, 2005
More Nikki Webster
I gotta stop doing this :) Whatever Nikki Webster's manager is doing is working well, she has jumped from 93 to 7 on FHM 100 Sexiest Women 2005 in Australia and New Zealand, above Delta and Imogen! Above Delta eeeer maybe ... by a long shot, but above Imogen? Come on ...
Posted by vhadiant at 08:29 AM | TrackBack
April 14, 2005
Sydney homes are more unaffordable than ...
New York! :) The latest study confirmed that the housing price in Sydney and Melbourne are unaffordable by most Australian. But dude .. don't we all know that already :)
Posted by vhadiant at 08:41 AM
April 07, 2005
Nikki Webster on FHM
Yes yes by now everyone who reads the news regularly must have heard about Nikki Webster celebrating her 18th birthday by having photo shoot for the "sexy but not sex" FHM. Well not quite 18 actually, according to once source she is 2 months short of her 18th birthday.
Hmm let's see, Nikki Webster after 5 years of non-appearance, recently dropped by her record label, a sudden re-appearance in a reality TV show (Dancing With the Stars), and now a photo shoot for FHM. Sounds familiar... I wonder if they all have the same agent?
I refuse to classify this in the "Music" section, instead put it in the "Misc" category.
Posted by vhadiant at 08:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 05, 2005
FTA ... yeah right ...
[via Frank Arrigo]
[snip]
Impatient TV viewers turn to BitTorrent
Some Australians are turning to file-sharing networks for new episodes of their favorite American television shows.
According to a new report, the popularity in Australia of one peer-to-peer application--BitTorrent--is driven in part by local television networks that have adopted a strategy of being slow to air current episodes of popular TV shows.
[/snip]
... driven in part by local television networks that have adopted a strategy of being slow ...
Add moronic programming schedule to the list. After enduring 3 weeks of Scrubs on Channel 7 with the following schedule (rough estimate, it is a while back):
Week 1:
Tue 10:30PM
Wed 11PM
Thu 10:55PM
Week 2:
Tue: 11PM
Thu: 11:25PM
Week 3:
Thu: 11PM
I gave up ... Fortunately Channel BT came to the rescue.
Posted by vhadiant at 11:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
