Activating a dormant CIMB account overseas (Part 2)

:: Updated! Issue Resolved! See Latest Post! ::

So the Internet had no answers for me. I opted therefore to look for a Facebook page. Yes, I turned to Facebook.

Turns out, CIMB did have a facebook page and people do post their problems on their wall. I decided to post my problem and it turns out this Facebook page was properly manned and a customer service representative was assigned to me almost immediately.

They requested for my contact particulars, which I happily gave. Since then we've exchanged two e-mails, requiring a formal request letter from me to my CIMB home branch. I have sent both a PDF and the actual physical letter to CIMB.

I now await news of its arrival and the resolution of this problem.

Until then.

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Anime I just found out about

I was browsing Gyao on Yahoo Japan last night when I clicked on one of its free episodes without thinking. The title seemed interesting. Unfortunately, the scene I saw was almost horror-like with protective charms, stuck all over a creepy wooden door, suddenly moving from a passing wind that disturbed nothing else. I had to finish the episode if I wanted to go back to bed.

The anime was Seraph of the End (Owari no Seraph, 終わりのセラフ). And it was good! I haven't been hooked on anime for awhile now. It's nice to have something to follow.

Another series I ended up getting hooked on was The Heroic Legend of Arslan (アルスラーン戦記).

Understanding Light Scattering

Been using a SEC-MALS system lately for my protein analysis. Have to brush up on that MALS theory if I'm going to understand what I'm doing.

Links:
Equations and data analysis
SEC MALS model

Box-Plot with R

Just trying to remember where I got all my tutorials for R.

Box-plot:
http://www.r-bloggers.com/box-plot-with-r-tutorial/
ecosensing.org

Strip Chart
Basic Plots - R Tutorial

Software Tutorial Compilations
Software at StatLab, Monash University
R Manual by Murray Logan

Statistics Tutorial
Interpreting p values
Significance level and p values

Activating a Dormant Malaysian CIMB Savings Account whilst Overseas

:: Updated! Issue Resolved! See Latest Post! ::

Googling this title might not bring up a lot of information for people who need to know but many people are certainly familiar with getting notices about inactive accounts and steps to take to activate dormant accounts within the country.

But what if you weren't in the country when the bank notifies you?

I recently found out that my CIMB savings account became dormant (just two days ago) and not only did I not know it was about to become dormant, I had money transferred to that dormant account to pay some bills. Now I can't use that money.

What should I do?

Situation:
1. Bank probably sent notification to my address in Malaysia (but I wouldn't be able to get it anyway because I'm not in Malaysia).

2. 1.5 years ago, I informed the bank that I won't be in the country and would like to be able to access my accounts from overseas. Was told this was possible and that I won't have anything to worry about. Yet, they fail to inform me directly of my account becoming dormant.

3. Online sites suggest that I make withdrawals from my bank account to activate it... at any branch in Malaysia. (I'm not coming home just to make a bank withdrawal.)

Solution:
1. Call CIMB International and tell them about my current situation. (Problem: No one is ever available at the customer service center and it's freaking expensive to make phone calls from Japan just to wait for an hour for no one to pick up.)

2. Make a withdrawal myself.


I mean, I don't really have much choice here. Where am I going to go for help? CIMB won't pick up my calls. I can't get my family to do anything for me. I've tried with the Maybank account but no luck. They say that I need to be there in person. Which is bull.

Banks these days have to consider people who need to travel for their jobs. I think, I may never want to come back to Malaysia.


+ Updated +
Part 2
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Old English Books

On one Sunday evening I found myself meandering through the streets of a quaint shopping district in Kawasaki. The weekend crowd was nowhere to be seen, which was strange. But it gave me courage and peace enough to walk through streets at my own pace. My walk brought me to a Book Off bookstore that sells second-hand books.

This was a very fortunate find for me, for I have been dying for a good English book to read. Modern literature can be interesting at times but I needed a proper English book that wouldn't be finished within hours. Second hand books would mean books written in proper old English that hasn't yet known the changes introduced by modern English. It would mean words written to be savored and experienced and not sped through just to past time. (I still can't believe it took me less than 8 hours to finish Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. For the record, I hated all the characters in that book.)

English books in Japan are relatively expensive for me. Although, it'll probably cost the same in Malaysia, variety in Japan is to be desired. I've started a small collection of Japanese books but my reading speed is still too slow for me to truly enjoy them. So, for the price of one new foreign book in Japan, I bought three old English books. One is a whodunnit and the other two are series to a fantasy.

The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon proved to be just what I needed. It took me three nights to get through the prologue because the characters were so colorful and there were too many to remember. Just the way books were to me when I was 10. It took me three nights to gain momentum because it's been so long since I've read a well-researched book! Each character was carefully thought out, the semblance of historically accurate details set the scene for each unfolding event. The characters were alive!

The one thing I found annoying though was the way Sidney Sheldon tells you of a crime in trial but then he takes an entire book to tell you how it happened (or who were actually involved) before delivering justice in the end. It was a long, drawn-out suspenseful book. I don't think I can go through that again any time soon. (Matthew Reilly has ruined slow-paced books for me.)

I've just started on the other books and if they bring out the need to write in me, I'll blog again.

For those interested in the book: goodreads.com.

Irony or Not?

Does this count as irony?

Last week I went all the way to the research center to use the mass spec and realized I didn't have a USB to transfer all my results.

Today, I made sure I had my USB but when I was ready to transfer my mass spec results, the room was locked!

T^T

If this is not irony, it's still a very unfortunate circumstance.

Most Viewed

I just found out my most viewed page is "How to split tables in Google Docs".

Apparently there are no good tutorials out there to teach you how.

耳から覚える日本語能力試験

I finally found out where my previous Japanese language school got their material from. The material was straightforward. It explained the sentence structure and grammar rules and had example sentences to support them.

「耳から覚える日本語能力試験」はその本のタイトルです。

Loosely translated, I suppose the title would be "Learning by Ear, Japanese Language Proficiency Test".

Guess this will be what I'll use to study~~

The afternoon of a cold autumn day

Never was a fan of rain. Especially now when temperatures are so low you don't need an actual refrigerator. 

But sometimes, it's so calm outside after the rain that you forget there was rain. 

Waffles

The thing about being abroad isn't that you're exposed to the land overseas. It's also about how connected you are to the land you came from. 

I keep getting news feeds on facebook from Malaysia and this link sticks out and rubs itself in my face knowing I can't go back just yet. 

http://www.foodadvisor.my/best-waffle-subang-jaya/

What would I do for a good waffle right about now...

Reading sessions

I would love it if I could get someone to help me read my Japanese book. I've been reading just fine because I can more or less tell what the words mean but I want to know how to actually read them. 

It'd be nice if someone could read the words I don't know for me and help explain them to me as I read the book. 

That's my new request for the day. 

Looking for something to do

It isn't as easy as it sounds. For the very accomplished it may seem absurd to not be able to find something to do. 

No. To not be able to find something to do is simply impossible.

There's always something to do. People to meet. Deadlines. Work. Chores. Hobbies. 

There's always something that needs to be done. 

What's your motivation? Why do you do them? What makes you do what you do? 

Why do you need to do what you do? What are you accomplishing? What end result are you seeking? What is the goal? 

There's always something to be done. But looking for something to do, isn't so easy. 

I need a reason to take the next step but there's no motivation. No reason. No real reason. No risk or benefit involved. 

I just need something to do. 

Mendeley Collections

Mendeley is an awesome reference manager. It works across various platforms and is able to sync your library over different machines. Even if the machine you're using doesn't have Mendeley, you can still easily access your references through Mendeley web. 

Adding references to Mendeley is easy and pain free. The problem with Mendeley though is if you want to bring your library with you everywhere. 

I can't seem to get the software to load fast on my school's workstation because every time I load Mendeley, it's the "first time" it loads. That means it automatically starts importing all the pdf files I have uploaded to the web. 

At first I thought I'd work around that by keeping my pdf collection on dropbox and manage them through Mendeley. That worked but the problem is, the program still tries to download the entire  database of PDFs even when they are already in my computer. 

That just sucks. 

So, I've decided not to load any PDFs at all. I turned the function off. Now Mendeley works just fine for me. 

I use it to manage references and when I need my PDFs I can simply click "add pdf" and it'll be where I expect it to be. No harm done. Would be nice if it's automatic but I guess nothing in this world is perfect. 

Racism

People need to look up the term "racism" before they use it every time they hear the word "race". What most people consider racism nowadays is nothing more than the appreciation of one's own culture and ancestry. Just because you're uncomfortable hearing someone say "oh so you're Chinese" doesn't make it racism. It's demeaning to yourself to believe that you're being insulted when there was no injury. Are we really so weak and fragile that the "possibility of being injured" or that "because that could have been hurtful" we have to defend ourselves immediately and call the offending person names? Does that give us the right to judge them for merely stating a fact? If you're Chinese you're Chinese. If you're Asian you're Asian.

Racism happens when a person is prejudiced or discriminated or antagonized directly because of their race. When someone merely mentions that you're of Asian descent, it does not make that person racist. Replace "Chinese" or "Asian" with any other race you can think of.

I just get so annoyed when I read a perfectly wonderful article that gives me hope that humanity hasn't forgotten how to be humane and the first comment that appears right under it calls the author racist for mentioning the word "black" or "Hispanic" or "Asian", saying things like "there should be no such thing as race" or "I don't care about what race people are and this article shouldn't even have mentioned it". Come on people! Do you really have to feel offended for no reason? If the author or if the speaker is trying to appear superior or trying to antagonize the race, sure. If you are being denied of a benefit or classified for a different set of treatment, sure. Fine. But if it's mentioning a specific event for a very specific group of people that has named that said event after their own culture, how is describing all that racist?

Well. I enjoy being a Malaysian Chinese very much and a lot about me has to do with my identity as a Malaysian and as a Malaysian Chinese. I'm not China Chinese but we can have a good long conversation about that.

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I guess what I really want to say is, you are who you are and no one can change that. Nothing anyone says can hurt you or change your entire being because no one on earth holds that much power over you.