This is How I Got Cheated!
1. Do NOT Rent a House without Signing a Lease
2. Do Not Let a Stranger Fix Your Car
3. Do Not Chat too Much w/ Taxi Driver
4. Never Trust Anyone (esp. Businessman) Fully 100%
1. Do NOT Rent a House without Signing a Lease
Trusting em because they were giving lots of (empty) promises and because our relatives know em for a long time. A Lease is there, to prevent the owner kick you out before the time ends, also to protect your privacy. Though some lease is beneficial more to the owner, than to us.
a). The owner of the house comes in and out, sometimes without earlier notices. (This is actually not allowed, only when there is emergency, and at most once a month or as agreed on contract, if they want to check the condition of the house).
b). One day he comes to the basement and said, something wrong w/ construction , that he needed to fix it. Later, he decided to live overnight in the basement, which I didn’t catch fast enough. Construction can only be done in day time, so there is no reason he stays there. Also if he lives in the basement, it would be very inconvenient and also another guy in the house w/ no lock on the door leading to basement.
c). In the end, he brought another girl and moved in. He actually wanted to break the verbal contract and now forcing us to move out. We supposed to rent the house for at least a year, but we moved out in 3 months. Lots of stuff to move too, such a waste of time.
2. Do Not Let a Stranger Fix Your Car (Stranger, in this case, somebody whose not associated w/ a company)
Always research first how to DIY (do it yourself). Never trust anyone, although they look very friendly.
From time to time, have some ppl offering to fix the dent on my car, and I always refused. There’s one time, my car got hit when it was parked and we did got compensated for $500. I was asking for a quote and it actually cost 250 to fix.
I was doing my maintenance and some Mexicans, w/ 2 small kids driving pass-by and told me he would fix it for 60. I think briefly and said okay. They did a quick fix, which I didn’t really understand. The dent actually needs to be smoothened and painted and they skipped these steps.
I paid them 60, and he said it’s 160. We clearly agreed for 60, and from here, I realized too-late that they are con artist. This is their daily job to con people, by fixing cars terribly.
Again, I guess Karma has its own way. Few months later, I saw him begging outside the grocery store and also somewhere in the neighborhood, I saw them targeting other people. He even came to me again. He obviously didn’t remember me. He must have conned to many people. I was too nice to say anything to him. I just ignored him.
3. Do Not Chat too Much w/ Taxi Driver
Lots of taxi driver try to earn more money, either by going the further route or getting you to change the destination, especially if you are a tourist, also not using the meter.
Learn and know the rate of the taxi price to the nearby locations (attractions or cities).
This happened when I was in Bali. Our destination is a close 15-min drive to the beach near our hotel. And I was chit chatting w/ the driver, about going to see the sunset in Tanah-Lot tomorrow. And he suggested that there is a better beach, at Uluwatu, where you can also see sunset. It’s only half an hour drive. So, without thinking much, I said, oh that’s kinda close, so I changed my destination. Actually I somehow knew that Uluwatu, was a place not so close to our hotel, but I just don’t remember it. It took more than 1 hour to get there because of the traffic too. And so another hour, the way back, oh my.
My darling was so upset along the way hehe. I made the decision w/o first asking her. Hmm!
Somehow we enjoyed our time there, but Uluwatu is not a good place for swimming at all, very strong waves till late evening. Sunset is just normal. I decided to never change my plan again, when going on trip, not on the spur of the moment.
When I went to another place, also to Thailand, I can see all those drivers, trying to earn more money, offering a private tour and charging ridiculous price, if you do not know the rate.
4. Never Trust Anyone (esp. Businessman) Fully 100%
When it comes to business, businessman will always try to earn more money, either by overcharging, changing the price of the agreed-deal, or cheating you. No matter how long or well you know em, always double-check on the quality and quantity of all the items you received.
I know an auto shop near my home and we always go there to fix the car. We’ve known them for more than 2 years. This time I asked them to change AC Compressor in the car. This is the 2nd time we change Compressor, the first time was for another car, cost $240. This time they charged $250, which is pretty reasonable.
It took more than 2 hours, so I went back home and came back to get the car after it’s fixed. Tried the AC and it’s working good. It’s my wife’s car and the next day, she told me that it’s making noises again. Something is wrong w/ the Compressor that we just changed. I checked it and realized that it wasn’t a new one. It’s a second-hand.
So I went back to the shop and asked them. They answered that a new one will cost $140 extra more, reassuring me that this used part is still in a very good condition.
Finally, I asked them to check where the noise comes from. It’s from the installation, that the belt was not tightened enough. It was a newbie who changed the compressor. So disappointed with their service this time. Selling me a used part for the price of a new one. I didn’t make it clear, that I will only accept a new part for the price that I am paying, and I failed to double-check right after the fixing was done and had paid them. Again, this shop is a traditional one, never giving any receipt and no warranty at all.
Some car fixing, however, like oil change, is hard to check ourselves, for example whether or not the mechanic has tightened the oil drain plug, under the car. If it’s not tightened enough, oil will leak under the car, finally when the car runs out of oil, the engine will overheat and explodes. An engine overhaul will be very costly because it’s impossible to fix.
Tazza – Hand Of God (2014)
Betrayal in gambling, telling us that we shouldn’t gamble at all hahaha.
Love wins it all…
The guide below is about installing a new Mac OS X to your Apple PC, using USB. I haven’t been able to create a bootable USB drive yet, in this experiment w/ the Mac OS X 10.5.
Spent a few days, trying to update an old Mac OS X 10.5. Best Mac OS X version ever now, is 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and new Mavericks. As usual Apple products are sucks. Old PC are not allowed to update to the newest OS, and upgrading has to be done by one level to another. Youtube, Chrome, and lots other software are not available on this old Leopard Mac PC.
I have an image file of the new OS. However, the Mac DVD drive is broken, instead of it being a Superdrive. The only way to install the new OS is from USB. I tried to make a bootable USB, to install the new OS, but it doesn’t work.
Finally I am able to do it by making partition of the main hard drive, restoring the image file to the 2nd partition and boot from there. Yeah, Mac lets you partition the main active drive (without having to unmount it), that’s really good and make it lots easier.
Here are the steps, to installing (update) a new OS X:
1. Backup all of your current data to a USB or other drive.
2. Make sure you have the right image file (.dmg or .iso) of the Mac OS X Installation for Apple (not for Linux, it won’t work), read the info very carefully, of the compatibility: CPU type and your Mac-PC max OS (which in my case is max OS 10.7).
3. Partition your main Hard Drive. 2nd partition should be 20 GB (to be safe, incase something goes wrong and you need to extract the image file to here). This will be the place to restore the image file. !!! Read this below!
If partition goes error, it means there is a big-size file, more than 1 GB, in the main drive. You have to delete it, so it can partition well. Please don’t put any copy of your image file here.
4. Restore Image file
Please note this, you have to mount the image file for it to work. You have to do a right click (fn + click) on the file, and ‘mount’ it. Let’s make it clear, between an image file and mounted image file (“mounted file” as i will call it).
Set 2nd Partition, as Destination (use your right click).
And right click again on “mounted file” and set as Source. (Make sure you select the mounted/opened image file, not the image file itself).
Check the check-box on “Erase Destination”, the restore process will go lots faster.
5. Do a Clean Installation
Reboot, press the ‘Option’ (Alt) key, and boot from the 2nd Partition.
Installation process will begin, right after you select Language. But do not proceed yet. Click on the menu, find “Disk Utility”, and erase the main drive partition. (Make sure the format is Mac Journalled, and put the name in, instead of Untitled).
Close “Disk Utility” and continue with the installation process. After installation finish, you should have succeed. Congrats! You have successfully installed a new OS.
6. Copy back all your old data, and create a Recovery Disk (This step is optional and easy, but I find this important, incase you need to re-install the OS again).
The 2nd partition, where we restore the image file, will be unavailable for use (after installation finished). Go to “Disk Utility” and format it.
Now, copy back the image file to this drive. And there you go, you have a recovery option.
A good word that really encouraged me to the end: “Don’t be panic!” When something goes wrong, keep trying and looking for the answers.
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Keyword Search:
* How to Create a Bootable USB from Image File for Mac
* Upgrade or Install new Mac OS X
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References that really helped me, from Google Search:
https://installingcats.wordpress.com/tag/disk-utility/
Partition Error, on big file
Partition HD
http://www.doitscared.com/1420/clone-mac-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-install-dvd-to-usb-flash-drive/
Restore Image
http://www.macworld.com/article/2056561/how-to-make-a-bootable-mavericks-install-drive.html
Bootable USB for Mac Mavericks
http://www.doitscared.com/1420/clone-mac-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-install-dvd-to-usb-flash-drive/
Clone Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Install DVD to USB Flash Drive
Sometimes I feel like being evil, doing sth bad.
This Saturday, we went to the West County mall and parking there is hard to find, unless if we go to top floor, took at least half an hour to get out cause of its bad design. At first, we found a spot, but somebody else snatched it from an advantageous direction. So we go looked for another one. Hunting is easier when you see somebody walking out from mall, means they are leaving, and so we followed an old lady. Well, she forgot where she parked and missed it by one row, so we hurriedly make a circle and as we got there, another fancy new car is waiting for that soon-will-be-empty spot. But this time around, we are at the right spot, so I told my wife to take the spot. And finally we got it, the parking spot. But the lady driving that fancy car said that we are rude, that she got there first.
My wife still feels a bit bad about it. For me, I feel this is a matter of competition, if you miss it, you’ll just look for another one. No reason to get upset and insult somebody else. If we are to be polite, we’ll never get to park on first floor. That’s the truth.
And by the way I don’t like Americans, they are all so damn selfish. Lots of uneducated one are even rude and never yield or stand in line, just like bunch of ahjumas fighting for on-sale in the market. Then it’s Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.
Even to do sth bad, we have to train ourself. It’s more about not feeling bad and thinking about the sin we have made. Hahaha
My wife is too kind and feel guilty and bad about it for all day. Hmm…rich her! Guess, next time I’ll let her decide what’s right for her. My bad!
You need guts to do some genius evil.
Last week, I fixed a friend’s laptop, actually it belongs to his 14 yrs old son. It has lots of adware installed on it, as how, when you install some software, it will also ask you to install lots of other advertisement software, coupon search, pc cleaner, and many other useless stuff plus plugins to Chrome extension.
And so i deactivate all software running on startup thru msconfig, but that’s not enough, some PC scanners, and antivirus, still on and running upon restart. Legit trusted antivirus will turn off when you disable them, while other like mcAfee is really annoying hehe, until you uninstall them.
2nd step is removing all unwanted programs from Control Panel, and there is this software, from Giga Bits, one is Giga clicks crawler, a virus, and the other, i forgot the name. I try to uninstall the 2nd one, it is pretending to be the normal uninstall process, while deleting setup files, but it also continues to delete user data. It took me a minute to notice it, so I hurriedly press power button to force shut down.
This is actually my 2nd time meeting this kind of uninstall software, where it didn’t uninstall but actually trying to delete all your files in hard drive, dang hehe. 1st time, i was fixing boss’ pc and i totally screw it up, took me a few 5 minutes to notice, so some system files are gone, need to re-install windows. This time around, windows won’t boot, but automatic repair fixes it, which is good, so I don’t have to do extra work to re-install windows.
Next time around, when doing uninstall for adware, gotta make sure to turn on the TaskManager, and know all the applications running, so just a few clicks around to end the task.
Have to educate the new young generations on how to avoid unwanted adware and virus, when installing the software they found,
And also educate the old generations, that not all anti virus software is good, some virus labelled themself antivirus, such as Windows 7 AntiVirus Pro, that took control over your pc, and even blocked all programs, including task manager.
It will be humorous yet chaotic and disastrous, at the same time meaningless. What a waste of lime!
What will be more fun when seeing one trying to outsmart the other while both don’t really know what they should be doing.
And what happen when ur boss trying to show off that he’s smarter?
He becomes a damn smartAss. “What an idiot!” You smirking and say ‘Whatever.’
I am a positive person, whenever somebody asked me to do something, I will reply them “Let me try” or “Let me check it out first.” In doing business, this is what people will expect from you.
But in a working environment, this is so wrong. Your freakin boss will try to take advantage of you as much as possible. His principle is to squeeze you till the lemon dry out and dump you in the trash bin. When you show that you can do every single thing, when you do a favor free without asking for more salary. This thick face sucking bastard will ask for more each day, and you thinking that you have finished another task given, but a never ending task will soon come. Sooner you’ll be so depressed and later you cannot finish your main job.
What kind of accomplishment will you get?! Nothing, you will only gain a recognition of how helpful you have been but it will all be easily forgotten, thinking that a lot of many other can also do the same thing that you’ve done.
When you get something for granted, you will feel it’s less valuable.
When you get something too easy, you will also lose it easily.
When somebody don’t appreciate what you’re doing, then do nothing.
The best answer to ur boss is “I don’t know.” If he keeps annoying you, then a more harsh one, “I don’t care!” You’re not getting paid for all those extra works, so why even bother.
At first I think it’s fun to explore into new things, getting to know more things but with all the headaches and deadlines, I’d rather do it the easy way.
Adventure with fun!
One of popular noodle in Vietnamese restaurant in USA. Second in fame is Pho beef.
Grilled pork on a thin pan, Rice noodle, greens, fried red onions, peanuts, carrot slices in sweet fish sauce. This Vietnamese style noodle, the more fish sauce, the better the taste.
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This is a great soup.
Tilapia soup with pineapple, okra, tomato. I am kinds new with okra. It’s a kind of veggie that’s tubular inside, with seeds, all eatable, and best taste if just boiled quickly so it will taste crunchy. Pineapple is used for its acidity. If okra is cooked, not in sour-based soup, it will release sticky clear gel in the soup, like nose jelly hehe, me don’t like that.
Men can forget, but cannot forgive.
Women can forgive, but cannot forget.Men say goodbye when they have another girl.
Women say goodbye when they feel their love have distance.Men feel curious about all of women.
But Women ‘re only curious about the man she likes.Men always wish he is the women’s first time.
But women always wish she is the last one.
Source: from my darling’s note, quoted from somewhere else. Peace!
The last part, she concludes: “Woa, Women are GREAT!”
The part that “man can’t forgive”, is kinda true for me. I bear grudges and might seek for revenge to those who do bad against me or my loved ones. Although, some small things I will just let it go. Hmm, so far, no big revenge has been made yet.
Whereas Jesus asked us to give the other cheek to be slapped. But why does a sinner like me, needs to be a holy man. What will happen if everybody is the one who do the slapping, hehe, they will never be enough cheek to slap.
Love is always patient and kind.
It is never jealous.Love is never boastful nor conceited.
It is never rude or selfish.
It does not take offense and is not resentful.Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins, but delights in the truths.
It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.
Source: From “A Walk to Remember” movie, also appear in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8
It had been so busy this week. A lot of customers from the public convention pass by to eat in the restaurants I work at.
Everything is going smoothly, upon taking and sending orders, until the kitchen stops working. The food doesn’t come up and they don’t know what to do from being nervous and not having enough experience to handle with the busy time. So darn it, the customers are upset and yet there is nothing I can do.
The kitchen staff messes up all the tickets and new servers keep calling their orders randomly. The purpose of having the printed ticket is completely gone. Yet, the 2nd and 3rd day, they do not learn much at all. No body is training them and I am not in a good term with them at all. So I wouldn’t bother. This is my limit. I would have to quit when the summer comes (it will be much bussier), and if they still have the same staff, chaos is a certain.
From my experience, when receiving orders, all tickets should be lined up accordingly to time order. First order that comes first, will be cooked and served first. When it comes to busy time, and tickets will keep printing non-stop.
This is normal, do not panic hehe. Stack up all ticket neatly according to the time order and line up 4 at a time, and prepare those orders first. Then go for the next 4 and one by one, all orders will be out and customer will be happy.
Why is it so messed up in my restaurant?! Because of lack of staff and no management at all. Only one person working in the kitchen and he has to prepare around 40 different kinds of dishes. Then when it’s busy, the dishwasher will have to help him. And what happen when there is nobody doing the dishwash?! All dishes stack up and finally we are out of dishes to serve with. The food cannot comes out, and when it’s finally ready, no plate to put it. This is entirely an error in the kitchen, which ruin the whole system in the restaurant.
I used to like to help all the pople I know, without expecting for anything in return. But at that time, myself always comes second, I have never thought much of myself first.
But now, I have come to a change that I will only think of myself, being selfish, because I really hated people of whom you have helped, come from behind you and do something bad.
What remains from all that caring, is just the happiness feeling that you get when you see people you help is so happy.
Helping each other where everyone is working happily and with a great smile, shows how good one system is.
A Team work doesn’t mean that you are helping the other, but otherwise, that when you are receiving help from the other and at the same time, ensuring that the system proceeds in the right order.
Lots of lazy people abusing the word “Team Work” as expecting the other to help them, and yet they are not doing their job, and when mistakes come from their part, they blame it on the other, saying that you are not maintaining the team work. Doom will be near!
And that’s what I have gone through in the past years, meeeting bad and good people. And I believe all of these might help me to remember, to be more cautious and to do little bit better in the year to come.
Happy New Year
dreamtune 