Other odds and ends

1. I spent most of last Saturday (before I went car shopping) helping a friend’s parents move. For our efforts, they donated $1000 to a charity of our choice (we chose World Vision). My good deed for the week

2. I more or less decided that I’ll go back to Singapore for Christmas rather than Chinese New Year. The X’mas season has 3 paid holidays (X’mas eve, X’mas and New Year), compared to 0 for the CNY period. Although air tickets are $300 more expensive during the X’mas season, I think I value my extra days of vacation (leave in Singaporean-talk) more. Also, I heard that in previous years, my whole group got the entire X’mas week off… so I’m hoping that’ll happen this year too, so I’ll have to take less vacation days. I also talked to my manager and she is ok with me “telecomuting” or working from home (literally home – Singapore) for a week so I can take less vacation days. This will be interesting… I’ll be up all nights (Singapore time) to work and will use the technologies my team is working on to communicate with everyone else back in the US. I’ll post my confirmed dates when I get my air tickets.

3. I have recently watched two great movies. First, Monster House, which is a computer animated film which is totally different from any other computer animated films out there. Its almost scary and really not very suitable for kids (some themes are disturbing…). Despite this, it is a very entertaining film and has a simple but good storyline. Its produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemmicks (who directed the Back to the Future trilogy), so you’re assured that this film is of a decent quality. (Kelvin’s movie rating: 7.5/10)

Second, The Illusionist. This is a mystry/thriller with great acting and a tight storyline. It has the right amount of suspense and it has top notch production quality although the ending twist kinda spoils the movie for me. Despite that, everyone should go out and watch this. (Kelvin’s movie rating: 7/10)

To buy or not to buy

I have recently been considering getting a new car. My 2001 Ford Escape is a gas guzzler, getting 16 mpg on average and probably doing much worse (12 mpg?) in the city. It is also getting kinda old (7 years) and I’m thinking of selling it off now when I can still get a good price for it before it starts giving any serious trouble.

Actually, I’m thinking of getting a new SUV to be more exact. After driving a SUV for more than a year, I realized that the extra space has come in a lot more useful than I had thought. Not only did it come in useful when moving, it was also very helpful when I needed to haul stuff around for camping or hiking trips. Besides the extra space, I like the high ground clearance (able to navigate unpaved roads with ease) and also the feeling of being big on the road (given that I am shorter than most people here in the US).

So, with the intent of getting another SUV and having the high gas consumption of my current car as my chief complaint, the first choice that came to mind was the Ford Escape Hybrid. Its basically the same SUV as what I currently have, but with a gas-electric hybrid engine that allows it to have a much better fuel economy (about 29 mpg on average). I quite like the size and design of the Ford Escape, so I wouldn’t mind getting the same car (with a better engine) again. The only caverat is that the extra-high economy comes at a premium, about US$28,000 (ok, I know this is nothing compared to the price of cars in Singapore (US$50,000 for a Toyota Corolla), but its still a lot).

My second choice (which wasn’t really a choice for me, ‘cos I was quite intent on getting the Ford Escape Hybrid) is the Toyota RAV4. This has a normal gas engine so it uses slightly more gas than the Escape Hybrid (about 24 mpg average). However, this is a Toyota, so better quality and a higher resale value can be expected.

So, with these two in mind, I went on Saturday afternoon to do some test driving. I first went to the Ford dealer to try the Escape Hybrid. It was a terrible experience from the very start. I walked into the dealership and no one seemed to be interested in helping me (despite all the car salesmen standing at the corner chatting). I went up to the reception and asked for a salesman and when I finally got one, he didn’t appear too interested in trying to sell me the car. I went on a test drive anyway and I was rather disappointed with the car. It was less powerful than I expected and the gas engine was much nosier than I had hoped. The SUV didn’t seem to run on the battery very much as the gas engine kicked in whenever I accelerated or when the AC was turned on. Needless to say, I left the dealership very disappointed, partially due to the car and mostly due to the level of (or lack of) service I got. I am a very picky customer and I would not stand for poor service, even if it means paying a lower price.

I then went on to the Toyota dealer. There, I was immediately approached by a salesperson who was much more helpful than the Ford guy. However, he immediatly gave me a whole load of BS about how high in demand the Rav4 was, how hard it would be to get one, that the waiting list was very long (which he then followed by saying he could get me one without any problem (???)) etc. It really felt like a set up to get me to settle for a higher price. Anyhow, I managed to get a test drive in the (only) Rav4 left on the lot, and man, what a big difference it was compared to the Escape. Having driven a Ford for more than a year, I’ve forgotten how well made Toyotas are. The engine was smooth, quiet and had very good acceleration for a non-V6 car. The suspension gave it a smooth ride and the interior was well designed and definitely did not have the cheap material feel I got from the Ford. Everything about the car said quality. Just a minute in the Rav4 and the Escape Hybrid was struck off my list.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I decided to get the Rav4 should I decide to get a new car. It’ll probably set me back about US$25k (with the Limited version containing all the options besides leather seats). All I need to do now is to decide if I should get a new car. The reasons I gave at the start of this post is probably not reason enough to justify a new car. I guess I’m just tempted by the prospect of having something newer and better. A Rav4 would definitely be an extravegant purchase (although it’ll still be cheaper than a Corolla in S’pore ), especially for someone who just started work 6 months ago. I talked to my Mum about my dilema and I was actually surprised by the advice she gave. She told me that if I want it, I should go ahead and buy it. Her reasoning is that everyone goes through these phases of wanting stuff and its perfectly fine sometimes to be extravegant on myself. Afterall, I would only be young this once and since I’m making a decent salary and would not have too much trouble paying off the car (over the next 3-5 years). If I really want it and since I’ve been working so hard, she says I should go ahead and reward myself. As I said, this was a surprising statement made by someone who put a lot of effort into incalcating the habit of saving into me ever since I was young.

Anyway, I’m still thinking. $25k (ok, actually it’ll be more like $12k after I sell my car and also account for the savings in gas over the next year and a half) isn’t a small sum and it would definitely be more useful if I saved it up for the future. But its not that I won’t have anything left to save if I buy this car, it’ll just be less. So where do I draw the line between saving everything I can for the future and using some now and saving less? Should I or should I not buy this car?

Travelling

“Most of us go through life being the way we are, not because we want to, but because that’s the pigeonhole we’re stuck in. Travel shows us we can be what we want. You’re as free as a bird.”
– Robert Edison Fulton, Jr
First man to circumnavigate the planet on two wheels (on a motorcycle)

War

“War doesn’t determine who’s right, only who’s left.”

Politics

I have been recently approached to put myself up for nomination to be part of the new exco heading the Singapore DAC at MS. The Singapore DAC (diversity advisory council) is the official Singapore group at MS which organizes events for Singaporeans such as the National Day celebration and mooncake festival dinner. It is somewhat like a SSA (Singapore Students Association) which can be found at many universities with a sizable Singaporean population.

Currently, the DAC is run in a very informal way and without a clear hierachy (eg. chairman, vice-chairman etc). Chee Seong, the person running the show, decided that a proper committee should be formed so that bigger and better things can happen, of which the most interesting is to spin off a Seattle-wide Singaporean association to connect all the Singaporeans (who we are told exist in disparate groups) in this area. Part of Chee Seong’s plan is to have representation from the various age groups in this committee and he has been trying to talk me into putting my name down for the elections for this committee. This whole “Singaporean exco” really reminds me of my experience in the SSA committee back at UW-Madison.

I would describe my experience in the SSA as a bittersweet one. Sweet because of the things I did to contribute not only to the Singaporean community there but also the things I did to help non-Singaporeans learn about Singapore, something which none of the past SSA committees did. Unfortunately, everything had to end on a bitter note with unkind and some extremely nasty comments being made by other Singaporeans about the abilities of my committee. Many of these comments I found were unfair and were made without a proper understanding of the limitations we had to work with. I thought that this was a typical Singaporean trait of nitpicking on every small detail and missing all the good things that were done. Those who were there at that time know how ugly this whole thing turned out. There was nashing of teeth and shedding of tears and I believe that the Singaporean community had lost some very capable leaders because of all this.

I, for one, lost faith in anything that has to do with Singaporeans and committees. I’m tired of the complacent “all talk but no action” nature which many Singaporeans have (I do not claim to be innocent of this myself). I’ve had enough of the politics involved in formal committees and the whole “election” process. If I have a good idea and want it done, I’ll do it outside the influence of a formal committee and all the politicking that goes along with it. For those of you who were at UW-Madison during my last year and wondered why I organized the Singapore Film Festival without the SSA, now you have my answer.

Having said all that, I would like to make it very clear that I no longer hold any grudges against anyone involved in that whole SSA saga. The only reason I’m even bringing this up is firstly, to organize my thoughts and realize how I have changed in my thinking and why, and secondly, to help people understand the decisions I make today.

The idea of being a part of the Singapore DAC committee invokes a certain amount of excitement in me, but I’m a weary of what might transpire in yet another committee which is accountable to a body of Singaporeans. My final answer to Chee Seong was no, but I told him that I would be more than willing to help out in an ad-hoc manner.