Worst. Movie. Ever: Transformers

I won't lie-- growing up, Transformers was my favorite cartoon and I, along with several other kids in the neighborhood had nearly all of the transformers. As a matter of fact, I think I have my child hood transformers somewhere in our unpacked apartment in London. Megatron was my claim to fame. Of course, I did respect Optimus Prime-- I mean, you have to.

Hoping to relive some of my childhood memories, I eagerly started watching transformers the movie. I wish I hadn't. I cannot remember a worse move, and this include the House of Yes which was the prior worst movie ever. The dialog in the movie was atrocious-- appearently, the transformers, which are the root of all modern earthly inventions have the vocabulary and speech cadence of a 3 year old. Combine that with poor writing, poor plot and even poor acting from the humans and what are you left with? A tragedy. It took me about 15 times of starting and stopping over the course of a fortnight to finish the movie and I feel dumber for it.

So please, save yourself 2 hours and pass on the movie.

By the way, e-bay still sucks.

Terrible E-bay experience

I just recently arrived in the UK and have been unpacking my things. Just before I left, I bought a iPod that I planned on using during my commute. However, it's just a matter of time before I get an iPhone and so I decided to sell the iPod on e-bay. So, I set up an e-bay UK account, figured out the postage system here and posted my items. About an hour after posting my item, I recieved a phone call from an e-bay representative asking deatils about me and the item to verify that I was who I said I was. That was fine, as someone who buys on e-bay, I thought that it's not a bad thing to check the identity of sellers. But that was not the end.

Two days later, ebay suspended my account and asked for a bunch of proof [e-mail 1 below]. Specifically, I had to fax them a copy of my passport, a utility bill and a receipt for the item i was selling [which I thankfully had].

After faxing in the documents, I waited for my account to be re-enabled. However, apparently my passport, utility bill and receipt for the iPod were not enough. Today, I received an email [e-mail 2] asking for another proof of name-- my work permit.

I find this completely unacceptable behavior from e-bay. In what world is a phone call to me, a passport, a utility bill and a receipt for the item I'm selling not enough proof that I am who I am. Just plain terrible customer service and experience. But what can you do? They own the market.

First e-mail:

Dear XXX

We regret to inform you that your eBay account has been suspended.
To have your account reviewed for reinstatement, please follow the instructions at the bottom of this email.
Why have we suspended your account?
From experience we know that certain items and actions are more associated with fraudulent activity on eBay than others. As a precaution, we suspend an account if it gives us cause for concern. We then ask for more information from the member before we reinstate the account.

Please understand we're not accusing you of fraudulent behaviour. Our top priority is to ensure that eBay remains a safe and reputable place to buy and sell, so we'd just like to confirm some of the information you've given us.

An account suspension in these circumstances is covered under the section of the eBay User Agreement headed "Abusing eBay", which you can read by copying the following link into a new browser window:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/user-agreement.html

During your suspension you are prohibited from using eBay in any way, including registering new accounts. We have ended your open listings.

Please be advised that this suspension does not relieve you of your obligation to pay any fees that you may owe to eBay.

Thank you for your cooperation in this important matter.
Regards,

eBay Trust & Safety

------------------------
How to have your account reviewed for reinstatement:

Please send us all of the following information so we can review your account:

1) Proof of name and address
2) Proof that the item/s you listed are in your possession
3) Confirmation of your up-to-date contact details

- Proof of name and address

Please send us copies of BOTH of the following:

- government-issued photo identification (passport or driving licence)
- evidence of address (bank statement or utility bill).

You must send us PHOTOCOPIES, not originals as we can't return your documents. Clearly print your User ID on both documents so we can match them with your account quickly.

- Proof that the item/s you listed are in your possession

Please send us ONE of the following for each of the items you've listed for sale on eBay:

- Receipt, bill of sale or agreement with your supplier

Please understand that we can't accept an invoice or order confirmation as proof that the item is in your possession.

- Confirmation of your up-to-date contact details

Please print the following information on the cover sheet of your letter or fax:
__________
User ID:
Email address:
Full name:
Full address:
Contact phone number:
__________

Please send us the information requested to the fax number or address below.

Faxing from the UK: 020 7681 2348
Faxing from outside the UK: +44 20 7681 2348

Postal address (photocopies only):

eBay Trust & Safety
Attn: Suspension Appeals
P.O. Box 9473
Dublin 15
Ireland

To get your documents to us here in Ireland as quickly as possible, please ensure you pay the correct postage.

Please be assured that eBay treats your personal information with the utmost care. We always destroy documents after we've reviewed them.

What happens next?

Please allow three days for us to review your account after we have received your documents. We'll then contact you via email. Your account will remain suspended until we receive and review these documents.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to your response so that we can resolve this matter as soon as possible.



Second e-mail:

Hello,

Thank you for sending us the documents we requested.

Before we can review your account we will need you to submit another
proof of your name together with your passport. I apologise if we didn't
make this clear enough in earlier emails.

We'll accept one of the following documents, as long as you haven't
already used it as proof of your address:

- Residency Permit issued by the Home Office
- Building Industry Sub-Contractor's Certificate issued by the Inland
Revenue
- Benefit Book or notification letter from the Benefits Agency
confirming the right to benefits
- Inland Revenue Tax Notification with address showing

Clearly print your User ID on all documents so we can quickly match them
with your account.

Here's our contact details again:

Fax number: +44 (0)20 7681 2348

Postal address (photocopies only):

eBay Trust & Safety
Attn: Suspension Appeals
P.O. Box 9473
Dublin 15
Ireland

To get your documents to us here in Ireland as quickly as possible,
please ensure you pay the correct postage.

Please be assured that eBay treats your personal information with the
utmost care. We always destroy documents after we've reviewed them.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to your response so that
we can resolve this matter as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Fraser Richards
eBay Trust & Safety
____________________

Learn more about buying and selling safely on eBay. Visit the eBay
"Safety Centre" by clicking on the link at the bottom of the eBay
homepage.

Good Mexican Food in London: Mestizo

On a whim, we went to Mestizo on Saturday night. While the place seems conflicted between wanting to be an upscale London restaurant and a 'divey' Mexican place, the food was great. They have a vast menu of tacos and various Mexican dishes. We weren't too hungry and we wanted variety so we ordered the taco sampler. You select 4 different meats and they come in bowls surrounded by guac, onions, pico de gallo, coriander, beans and sauces. We ordered the cochinita pibil pork, lamb, another chicken in sauce and chicken and chorizo [I'm upset at myself at not knowing the names]. The cochinita was great-- it reminded me of the tacos i had on repeated trips to playa del carmen [Of course, it was not as good as Gerardo's cochinita, but really, what is. The lamb was too salty and the other chicken dishes were great. The most unfortunate part was their use of flour, rather than corn tortillas. However, the meats on their own were great. We splurged and paid the extra £3 for 3 different hot sauces-- and these were worth it. Insanely hot, to the point where my head sweat, but good. The cost for the taco platter is £12/person. Not bad in pounds, brutal in USD. All in all, the best London mexican experience we've had to date. It's located near the Warren St Tube Stop.

London

Today actually marks the 90 days since I left Microsoft's Market Expansion Group [aka Windows Emerging Markets]. Looking back on it, I must say I had a truly fantastic and fortunate experience at Microsoft in a lot of ways. I was fortunate to travel and 'do business' around the world for 2 year from Jakarta to New Delhi to Sao Paulo. I was able to work on a nascent business [Windows XP Starter Edition] which is now a full-fledged SKU of Windows and driving Microsoft to re-think how it prices Windows around the world. I also go to work on a brand new product, FlexGo which could alter they way Windows is bought and sold [and I think V3 and beyond will!]. Of course I'll miss these parts. And of course, this is trite but I'll miss the people the most. Since I've left, people from MEG have ended up in some cool places including start-ups, SVP jobs, Cisco, MSN. Even before I left, people went some great places like Grameen, Actis and other places. The lure of emerging markets and the opportunity definitely brought together some great people.

Kate and I have moved to London and I am now at Google. I am in business development and working on various partnerships across Europe. Moving to London is, of course, non-trivial and I'll try to keep a log of my various mis-cues as I get to learn the English culture first hand.

Countries I've Been To

A co-worker came in asked me an interesting question-- have I been to more US states or foregin countries.... the answer: foregin countries 41, US States 35

Foregin Countries: 41




US States: 35

Windows Starter Edition

My first project in the Emerging Markets group at Microsoft was Windows XP Starter Edition [now there is an even better Vista version.] Starter is targetted a novice PC users as it has special help videos and screens for first-time users. My initial role was to help grow Starter Edition in Latin America [from Sept of 2005-Sept of 2006] and we definitely grew it by more than 10X in one year.

Of course, it was a team effort with our developement team and local teams in the region working together to help bring the product to consumers. In May of 2006, I, with a crew of highly, highly skilled producers and camera men went to South America to document the impact of Starter Edition.

Some of those videos can be seen here. Others can be found here

Brazillian Customer



PC Manufacturers

Pictures from Rio

Rio de Janeiro