The end of blogger

This post marks the final words of this blog. No, this is not that silly "I am quitting blogging" trick that was circulated some time back. I meant to say... I am officially shifting to my new Wordpress blog from now onwards.

It has been frustrating tweaking the new theme for the new blog, because I am such a CSS-idiot. It is completely new to me and it doesn't help when most are speaking in their geek terms which people like me simply don't understand. Of course, a few people helped me out and I will put up my gratitude some time soon in my new blog. I am still caught up with the migration of links, and also signing up new accounts in portals like Bloglines etc with the new domain.

The blog is pretty empty now because I have not truly migrated every bit of it. As for now, at least posting and commenting is working. It will also be a good chance to do some housekeeping. After this post in blogger, I will begin posting in Wordpress. If you have linked me in your blogroll, do update the url.

Goodbye blogger!

http://www.mr-endoh.com/

Starhub or StarBUG!

Alright, I need to rant this off my chest seriously. I have had enough of Starhub and Linksys!!! The reason why I named both is because they LOVE to PUSH the RESPONSIBILITY to one another whenever the connection is screwed!

Ever since the maintenance that early morning which affects the Northern connection, I am facing more frequent disconnections than ever before. When I say more frequent, the figure stands at more than 30 times in a single day. I was disconnected 5 times during a 30min conversation with Lenne earlier on, and that poor gal watched me disconnected again and again!

I am fine with 1 to 3 disconnections per day on a regular basis, I could close one eye to that. I think I am fairly tolerant compared to others who cannot even stand one single disconnection! More than 30 times a day? Yes, I actually took all the timings down since I am not sure whether the problem resides in the router or the internet connection. Just that it is by coincidence I am only looking at such a high disconnection rate straight after that maintenance. Why am I not calling them again? My reason is simple.

I have called so many times, their only commitment to assist in helping to resolve this issue is... "Sir, can you follow my steps and uninstall the connection and we will go through it step by step again." Hello... I have gone through this step from my first call to the most recent call. How many times do you want to repeat the same setup all over again? That's so much for Linksys, and who the hell do you employ seriously? Can you guys stop speaking in that damn fake British accent? It's irritating when you try to slur the words... and yes, I AM ONE CUSTOMER WHO HATES THE WAY YOU GUYS SPEAK OVER THE PHONE!

10 out of 10 times, I am thrown back to Starhub... "Sir, you might want to call up with Starhub because after resetting the wireless setup, the problem apparently do not lies in the hardware." Fine, Starhub I will call.

One thing that all customers should be accustomed to by now, whatever Starhub cannot solve they will always end up with "Sir, I suggest you take off your wireless and try out a direct connection with the modem instead of going through the router." Again, this sentence comes out 10 out of 10 times I call Starhub. I eventually tried once... and I had to move my entire workstation out into the living room to test the connection. The same issue happened, and not least to mention... how the hell do you expect me to leave my PC out in the living room? If I had to do that, why would I even want a wireless solution in the first place?

A call recently... I actually asked the Starhub operator, "So is Starhub or Linksys going to send a staff to my place and help me shift the entire workstation?" Oh, I forgotten to mention... if you wish to extend a cable from the modem into your room for direct connection, it will be at your own cost when it is actually no fault of yours.

A very sad statistics, until today, there isn't a single call I put to them that they would not refer me to the other party. So who is going to solve the problem now? Starhub? Linksys? Or should I call a Singtel technician to help fix my Starhub connection? I am sorry... your customer service is out of the world. First class indeed!!!

What the hell is wrong with Starhub and Linksys? Do you guys know you provide one of the suckiest customer service I have ever seen?

Until today, none of them offer to send a technician to my place and attempt to track what the exact problem is.

Two South Korean hostages freed.

Two is better than none, don't you think so? When the fate of 21 hostages are in the hands of Talibans, to bring home two hostages alive is a big achievement. What is going to happen to the other 19 hostages? The world's message to the Talibans is clear. We do not want only 2 living hostages. We want ALL of them back... alive!

I was told by my Korean friend, there's a rising resentment towards the United States, particularly towards George Bush and his military for their "spectator's role" in the entire hostage saga. The South Korea and Afghanistan governments are cracking their skulls in a bid to secure the freedom of the hostages. Why wouldn't anyone be mad, being left on their own after they risked their own life and pledged their support in this "War against Terror"?

Alright, I do not live in these countries so let's not go there. I shall talk about Singapore then, the very same country that I am living in. Singapore is heavily dependent on United States not just for economic benefits but also for several factors like military support. If you do not know this open secret, can you tell me which cave have you been living in?

I just hate it when we have to boot-lick the United States government. I actually ran out of graceful words in my little limited vocabulary to describe the relationship between Singapore and United States. I see this South Korean hostage crisis as a very big lesson for any alliance with the United States movement. Through this crisis, we have seen how the United States have resumed themselves to mere spectators instead of taking a more proactive approach in this war which stems from their propoganda, despite SOS calls from the South Korean and Afghanistan governments.

I longed for an answer, why is United States not helping more than they have? The answer was pretty clear cut this morning, they were too busy with Operation Phantom Strike in Iraq to flush out more extremists linked to Al-Qaeda and Iran. OOOOhhhh I seeeeeee... now that explained why United States are "too busy" to bother about anything else?

It's just painting a very sad picture of how this entire coalition is falling apart. For me, I read it from a very commoner's point of view. "Fight against terrorists, with me you will. Trouble ashore, without me you shalt." Whatever is happening to the "support" for United States?

Perhaps, this would be a wake-up call to Singapore... should we continue boot-licking the US government? To what I can recall, George Bush is the only President whom has commanded the tightest ever security coverage on our land than any of our expensive ministers. Never in the recent decade of Singapore's history have I ever seen that amount of security personnel ever deployed for just one man. What do we gain out of it?

Will Singapore come upon a day when we have a crisis and United States is nowhere to be found? Possibly! Isn't South Korea the best living example now? Who is there to help them except themselves? Is Singapore learning the painful lesson South Korea is going through now? Or are we going to continue satisfying our own illusions that building a good relationship with United States is the best solution we can think of? What is the price that South Korea is paying now in their support for the war? Can Singapore even afford this kind of price tag? Through the Yishun MRT's video incident, I think my last question has already been answered.

If anyone is smart enough, one would think twice about supporting US wars ever again. Is Singapore smart enough to pick up the tabs? I don't know... I hope they are. I hope Singapore would never have to live through this. If Singapore does have to face this situation, the country only has itself to blame for licking the wrong boots. Don't blame United States that no help was given, because we should have seen it coming through this South Korean's crisis.

Let's hope the remaining 19 hostages can be released soon. The anguish and anxiety of their families must be so overwhelming. It's hard to imagine...