William

1. Hair Cut

I don’t have good experience visiting the saloon here. Maybe because of the language barrier, the stylists don’t seem to be able to understand what I want. But they have this special service of massage where they massage ur shoulder, head and even you legs for you. So visiting a saloon here does not necessary means cutting hair.

Nevertheless, I sort of did it myself. Went to “Giant” and get a set of tools, stand in front of my mirror and cut myself. This is the end result:

Not too bad eh?

2. Tables and Chairs

Sounds odd that someone will complaint about this? But here I am, expressing my anger about the “length” of the tables vs chairs. The table is too high. So you really can’t say that you rest your arms on the table. Fact is for someone whose height is 1.75cm, I feel that I am putting my hand “UP” on the table. And when you start to get lazy, your upper body tend to relax and bend. Therefore, you put more stress on your shoulder..

Adding to this problem, is the height of the seat. They are low. Now imagine low seat high table, like a baby trying to reach out for something …

I am very particular about my siting. If it is not right, it will affect my mood, concentration and etc. Therefore, I hate tying report or proposal at home. And even in office, the very first thing I do every morning is to turn my office chair (anti-clockwise, because it will slowly be leveled down after everyday usage) to adjust the height.
3. Taxi

There are a lot of cabs in Jakarta. Blue Birds, Silver Birds, Diamonds, TransCab, Gramma.. so and so and so. Too many to be named. And of course, most locals here preferred Blue Birds.

They are everywhere, from Residence areas, Shopping Malls, Clubs… However, to me, they are all the same. Taxi Drivers are usually very dishonest here. Not all, but most. I met some very honest and hardworking drivers. But I’d seen my share of crazy and rude taxi drivers in Jakarta.

If a cab fare is 35000 rp. They will mumble to themselves if you give them the exact fare. If you give extra 2000 rp as tips, they will not say thank you. And if you give them 50000 rp, they expect you to leave the taxi without asking for your 15000 rp change. And if you do not leave, they will look at you with a lazy eye, mumble to themselves again and give you 5000 rp..

Wait, you say they should return you back 15000 rp right? That is because you passed your Maths, you see. They don’t give you back your change in full because they “EXPECTED” some tips from you. What I hate most is their attitude, the way they passed you your change, is as if they are the boss, giving you your undeserved salary.

4. Drain /Sewer

Grammatically, these are two different things. However, in Jakarta where pollution is so high.. Anything that is big enough for rain water will be good enough for sewer as well.

This photo was taken near my office. The blue building you see on the back is “WTC Manga Dua Square”, a shopping mall. It is like Singapore’s Lucky Plaza (minus the crowd). We always walk over to have our lunch. And yup, we have to walk pass this bridge and get a taste of the “Smell”…

Did I mention that this is a bridge? Yep, there is another side of this “sewer”:

Many find it hard that I am working on this very day.

Yes, I am still working. At Sinarmas World School. I need to verify the Server UAT (User Acceptance Test) with their Server Administrator and also some handover stuff.

Okay, it is not easy. The whole UAT session is like a Mac OS X Server Basic Training Essentials Crash Course. Well, do take into consideration that not ALL Server Administrator are trained in Macintosh. Yes, generically speaking they are divided into two cults, Unix (Linux) or Windows Server. However, Mac Server is still very new. Especially in Indonesia market.

Try putting up a job, requesting applicants to be Mac OS X Server trained. Apple Certified System Administrator preferred because your company or school is running Xserves. You will be surprised by the number of competent applicants…

Anyway, managed to get a free birthday lunch from their IT Manager. Well, it is good food..

Then I proceed to end the night with a short walk in Puri Indah Mall, eating Singapore Laksa..

How may times you heard praises like these:

1. I like a Mac. It just work!

2. I never have to look for this and that, they are all there!

3. I don’t need drivers. Not like what I usually did on Windows…

And so, and so…

Honestly, do anyone really stop and think what it takes for an Operating System to be “plug-and-play”? From below image, you will understand what are the price you pay for such OS:

A fresh MacBook will take up 20GB of disk space even before you start using it.

I understand that most Boot Camp users might choose NTFS for their Windows partition. However, there is one problem with doing it so; Your Windows partition will appear as “Untitled” on your Mac desktop.

You are able to see your Windows partition on your Mac. But things don’t work the same way when you switch to your Windows counterpart. Mac is able to read NTFS (not write), Windows on the other hand do not read Mac Journal format. If you need to access files from your Mac partition, you may want to try “MacDrive 7″ from Mediafour.

However, if NTFS “Untitled” Boot Camp partition is all that bug you. There is a way to assign the desired names you want  for it.

1.  Start your Mac in Windows.

2. Select and open “My Computer”.

3. Right click on your C drive and select “Rename”.

4. That’s it. When you reboot to Mac, you will see your Windows Partition in your desired name.

Have any idea what it takes to be one? According to Apple site, this is their definition:

“Apple Certified Support Professional, formerly named Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist (ACHDS), ACSP certification is new for Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. ACSP verifies an understanding of Mac OS X core functionality and an ability to configure key services, perform basic troubleshooting, and assist end users with essential Mac OS X capabilities. This certification addresses the technical skills needed by a Mac OS X specialist who works as a support professional or otherwise assists Mac OS X users with technical issues.”

And this qualification is only level 1 for Apple Certifications. Like Microsoft and Sun MicroSystem, they have their certifications for Administrators and Engineers. All are recognized in IT industry.

I had started my first ACSP class in June. It was not easy. Plenty of expectations and pressures. I had a few things blocking my way. Language barrier is the biggest problem. Not just communications, but also understanding. Most of them are from Senior, if not Junior high-schools. English to most native Indonesian, is like Japanese to Singaporean.

On top of that, Technology understanding is also another big problem. Imagine jumping into the workforce right after your high school? You have been learning Maths, Basic Science…etc. Now, you are required to understand the concepts of Networking, Server & Computers services, troubleshooting…  You must agree that these all are too much to ask for.

Kerberos support single sign-on. Which means you are able to use all type of services on net or from the server by providing one userid and password. Simple? I had to re-phrase it as :

“Imagine going into amusement park? For one ticket, you get to enjoy all the joy rides and games. Just one tickets!!”

Normal training by Apple  is 3 days. This is overkilling. My guys need more than 3 days. So I selected a few, throw them into a 6 days training and intensive tests.

Now, 3 of my boys did me proud. They had achieved their ACSP qualifications. They are looking at better prospects, higher salaries and more. Am I right to say I left a legacy?