2007/12/20
Lazy Month
December turns out to be a lazy month. Not many posts on the blog, but still have some pictures to share. Just being lazy. Tomorrow I am going to Thailand for 2 weeks. With friends joining in the trip, it will be more fun to visit some places like bars. Wanna wish everyone a nice holiday. If you do Christmas, merry Christmas. If you do countdown, happy new year. If you do neither and have to work hard, wait for my pictures from Thailand. :-)
2007/12/17
Competition
Since the High Speed Rail (TSR) started its operation, air passengers have decreased dramatically. I did not realize that until when I booked the flight back to Tainan. It was 998NTD, including tax. I used to have to pay 18xx or 19xx depending on the time. When I got to the airport at noon, it was mostly empty. That is competition.
2007/12/12
Ubuntu
I've heard many good stories about Ubuntu, and also heard that the founder is so rich that he is willing to pay the postage to distribute Ubuntu if you request a CD on their website. Free, that's the keyword to catch my attention and keep my eyes wide open. So I did, and the CD came in today. It comes with a very nice cover design and 4 stickers for you to place on your PC. Since I don't have a PC, I may just try to play with the Live CD function with my laptop. Wondering if they have a MacBuntu.
Accident
Mother fell and broke her right knee on Sunday. Surgery was done on the same day. I took the early flight home and stayed with her for 2 days. Had a short break on Monday when dad came to take it over. I went home to take a shower and saw that the flowers in our little yard are blooming. Beautiful at this time of the year. The weather was very warm and nice, but I was so down.Sis and I had a discussion. We decided to hire someone to take care of mother for 12 hours during the day, then dad takes care of the night shift. Mother has to stay in the hospital for few more days. We plan to take her home on weekends so we can be there. It will be a month before she can have the pastor removed, and a year before doctor removes the pins off her knee. Nothing major now, but it just takes time to fully recover.
2007/12/03
Wiring Issue Closed
Canadian immigration office called me this morning and told me that HSBC had called them earlier and confirmed the wiring is successful. They understand that my bank cannot change the account number on the form, but they can proceed now if I send the original form back to them. I feel good now.
2007/12/02
Sunday Trail
Have been thinking about this moving-out thing for quite some time. There is definitely some anger, I'd admit, but there is something else that I was not able explain. Today, I was dong laundry. The weather was so lovely, so warm. I had the urge to go out.Went to the lake down the street. Always like this one. It is within walking distance, and definitely is quite something to see from the street side. I took some pictures and walked around the lake. Also took the trail. Never realized that I have lived in Neihu for 3 years, and have never come this far. It turns out to be a pretty short trip. I could still hear the cars roaming from the distance, but birds singing and cool shadow is still such a great enjoyment.
Gotta admit when I said I'm ok, maybe I am really not ok, especially when it has bothered me so many years. This is hard. I think I am ready to move on, and have to move on.
2007/11/30
Issue with Wiring Money
This post is all a complaint one. Skip it if you don't like to hear me whine.
Got a phone call from Canadian immigration office saying that I put down wrong account number when I wired the process fee. They need me to pick up the form or have someone go over to pick it up, go to the bank, have the account number corrected and bank stamped, and send it back to the immigration office. The lady kept reminding me to get it stamped by bank employees, or I may have to take the office run few more times.
So I went and picked up the form myself, ran (you know this is exaggeration..) to the bank. The gentleman was very nice to check for me and confirm the wiring was successful. But they cannot change the account and stamp for me.
FACT 1: The account number on my form is wrong.
FACT 2: The account number my bank used to wire is per my writing, so is wrong.
FACT 3: The wiring was successful to the correct account.
So how can this possible? Anyway the gentleman said since the wiring was successful, I can just tell the immigration office the fact, because the wiring information the bank stores includes my name, so it is easy to recognize. They cannot change the account number and stamp for me, because they have to key in exactly what the customer writes down on the form. They have no authority to change the account on my behalf. That makes sense, so I tried to call the immigration office to find out if the gentleman's proposal works.
The recording is done in English, French, and Chinese. Very friendly. I chose Chinese of course, the third option, using my expensive cell phone calling plan. The recording was also very nice to warn me to have a pen and paper ready, as I may need to write down some useful information. Then the recording went on and on to explain for which case, which website to refer to, for what query, which email address send a letter to. It went on like FOREVER, and finally it hanged up. I did not get to talk to anyway. They do NOT take calls. All the immigration offices all have their nose point at the high sky. Fxxx (censored).
So I turned to the gentleman and said, if the account is wrong, how can this wiring go through? Can you double check and confirm it is my name, and the recipient is Canadian immigration office? After a short check, yes, name and recipient are confirmed correct. The he started to call the recipient bank (HSBC). After a LONG while, he came back and said, oh, maybe the Canadian immigration office is one of their major customers, so their employee who did the wiring knew the account is wrong, so he/she made the correction for you and completed the wiring. If you'd like to have further information, you can call this number, or if you'd like to have a proof of the wiring, you can go to their office at this address, which is so far away from my office and my home.
I was annoyed at that point. I said,
I wrote down wrong account number. That's fine. It is my mistake. You keyed in as per my writing, so it is not your fault. But, HSBC should also key in the wrong number, confirmed it did not work, and informed you of this error. This way, I can just come downstairs to the bank from my office, and correct it. It saved me trips to the immigration office, and time! If someone should contact HSBC, it will be YOUR bank, not mine. If HSBC does not have a proper SOP (standard operation procedure) to respond, how can your bank trust HSBC? You should even escalate this to their manager. I am not going to their office to get any proof. If this problem is not solved, I want to have my money back, and YOUR bank is my contact window.
The gentleman at this point asked for his manager for help. The lady was nice to explain and contact HSBC again. After a long while, again, she said that HSBC is able to make a printscreen of my wiring information, and fax it over to us and to the immigration office. The person even called the accounting of the immigration office and explained the situation, and asked the accounting to inform the lady who processes my application. The person confirmed it is fine.
I was not sure what else I could ask for. The lady of my bank was very nice to say that if I still need to have any questions answered, feel free to go to them.
The employee of HSBC does not follow their SOP to input information, if they have one. He/she may think he/she is doing me a favor, but in fact, he/she is causing my so much trouble, and my bank, and I am complaining about HSBC right here.
Er.. Are you following?
Got a phone call from Canadian immigration office saying that I put down wrong account number when I wired the process fee. They need me to pick up the form or have someone go over to pick it up, go to the bank, have the account number corrected and bank stamped, and send it back to the immigration office. The lady kept reminding me to get it stamped by bank employees, or I may have to take the office run few more times.
So I went and picked up the form myself, ran (you know this is exaggeration..) to the bank. The gentleman was very nice to check for me and confirm the wiring was successful. But they cannot change the account and stamp for me.
FACT 1: The account number on my form is wrong.
FACT 2: The account number my bank used to wire is per my writing, so is wrong.
FACT 3: The wiring was successful to the correct account.
So how can this possible? Anyway the gentleman said since the wiring was successful, I can just tell the immigration office the fact, because the wiring information the bank stores includes my name, so it is easy to recognize. They cannot change the account number and stamp for me, because they have to key in exactly what the customer writes down on the form. They have no authority to change the account on my behalf. That makes sense, so I tried to call the immigration office to find out if the gentleman's proposal works.
The recording is done in English, French, and Chinese. Very friendly. I chose Chinese of course, the third option, using my expensive cell phone calling plan. The recording was also very nice to warn me to have a pen and paper ready, as I may need to write down some useful information. Then the recording went on and on to explain for which case, which website to refer to, for what query, which email address send a letter to. It went on like FOREVER, and finally it hanged up. I did not get to talk to anyway. They do NOT take calls. All the immigration offices all have their nose point at the high sky. Fxxx (censored).
So I turned to the gentleman and said, if the account is wrong, how can this wiring go through? Can you double check and confirm it is my name, and the recipient is Canadian immigration office? After a short check, yes, name and recipient are confirmed correct. The he started to call the recipient bank (HSBC). After a LONG while, he came back and said, oh, maybe the Canadian immigration office is one of their major customers, so their employee who did the wiring knew the account is wrong, so he/she made the correction for you and completed the wiring. If you'd like to have further information, you can call this number, or if you'd like to have a proof of the wiring, you can go to their office at this address, which is so far away from my office and my home.
I was annoyed at that point. I said,
I wrote down wrong account number. That's fine. It is my mistake. You keyed in as per my writing, so it is not your fault. But, HSBC should also key in the wrong number, confirmed it did not work, and informed you of this error. This way, I can just come downstairs to the bank from my office, and correct it. It saved me trips to the immigration office, and time! If someone should contact HSBC, it will be YOUR bank, not mine. If HSBC does not have a proper SOP (standard operation procedure) to respond, how can your bank trust HSBC? You should even escalate this to their manager. I am not going to their office to get any proof. If this problem is not solved, I want to have my money back, and YOUR bank is my contact window.
The gentleman at this point asked for his manager for help. The lady was nice to explain and contact HSBC again. After a long while, again, she said that HSBC is able to make a printscreen of my wiring information, and fax it over to us and to the immigration office. The person even called the accounting of the immigration office and explained the situation, and asked the accounting to inform the lady who processes my application. The person confirmed it is fine.
I was not sure what else I could ask for. The lady of my bank was very nice to say that if I still need to have any questions answered, feel free to go to them.
The employee of HSBC does not follow their SOP to input information, if they have one. He/she may think he/she is doing me a favor, but in fact, he/she is causing my so much trouble, and my bank, and I am complaining about HSBC right here.
Er.. Are you following?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)