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How do you, without having worked for an actual software house, eventually sit on the Board of all the hypothetical software companies in the Fortune-500?

I think the answer is probably you can’t.

Isn’t that disturbing?

Because this is a story of a 5322 EUR phone bill.

You see, all of you probably have heard at one point in time data roaming phone bills, in the realm of thousands. And thought, that would never happen to me. As for me, this would naturally be the case because:

1. I’m technically savvy, and I know how much KB is a song/video/website/msn

2. I switch off data on my phones when I’m aboard (duh!) because I know some apps just ping/push

3. I barely use data unless it is an emergency

So, it was the 12 January 2012, and I was in Mumbai, India. I had two phones with me, my iPhone 4 (personal) and my HTC HD mini (work). I’ve been making many phone calls to/fro India and Netherlands and received an SMS midday saying that my usage is 250EUR so I highlighted this to my project manager, he mentions that he incurred a 500EUR phone bill the last time he went, so no issues, because I had only a few days left in India.

In the evening, I suddenly received an sms saying that my usage is 5000EUR, and that I should turn off data roaming (which I had). I give a call to the IT person and he mentioned that we need to analyze the bill when it comes.

Forward 3 months later, I got a bill for 5322EUR, directed at work. I had a few panic calls to my manager.

I ask for a download of this data, and it seems that for 3 hours on the 12 January 2012, I used approximately 700MB of data. Now, if you didn’t know, 700MB of data means a 2 hour movie, approximately, for that amount (yes, I studied networking, so I know about data packets). It also means approximately about a month of normal usage on an iPhone – and you know that is far more data intensive then the HTC, which I had no datas on it. It also showed random pings throughout the day until I manually called IT to call Vodafone to turn off the Internet.

So, basically nothing made sense, because:

1. Historically, and normally, I use less than 50MB on my HTC in a month

2. I could not possibly use 700MB on my HTC in three hours

3. There were no signs of any huge data transfers on my HTC because it is using Windows 6.5 with no major updates, no history on Youtube, no history on Apps updates, neither was there any huge push emails done in that day even if my phone was pushing (max 50KB email, if any)

4. I switched off data yet the phone was still pinging for the weather app approximately 4/5 times a day

So obviously, I asked Vodafone to check with the India partners on the specific data.

It turns out this is NOT possible. Because unless data is criminal, aka child porn, or terrorism, it is not possible to show data due to privacy issues even though I was the owner of the phone. (Ridiculous!) It is also believed that due to SOX-compliancy, there should not be any fraud with the data usage.

For me, this is pretty ridiculous, and it is a good thing my work believes that I am not at fault at a sudden 700MB usage in India. But eventually, IT said that it could be that the fault is my HTC and there could have been a possible memory leak/technical fault/virus which resulted in the data usage.

Now, theoretically speaking, my work has already paid the bill. But there should be follow-up in this. Imagine if you were holding on to a HTC and using the phone with data switched off, and it goes pinging the weather and doing crazy things. Would you pay for it? Would anyone pay 5K EUR for a phone bill which seems fraudulent in the first place?

This is the reason why I like Amsterdam.

And also possibly why FaceBook bought Instagram for one billion. (Because its awesome)

It was bothering me so much last night that I went online and found the cache of the article of me on the Straits Times, I cannot remember too much about it right now, but it was titled: I don’t want to die.

During my business trip to India a month ago, I was petrified when the co-worker showing me around showed me where the Taj Hotel was bombed, or where the train bombings went off. Like something in me went off.

Something, deep inside of me, really went off. And over the weekend, its like and somehow I ,managed to almost got myself in a stupid situation once again. When everyone had plans and resolutions of what to do in 2012, mine was literally: Do not die.

What does it mean? It means that life is a gift and that I was not meant to be here.

It means that there were so many things which I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to do crazy things with it, and live life for it is. It means that it is possible to do anything, to work for whatsoever, to shop whenever, to go wherever, to date whosoever.

It means that there were so many things which I have yet to do, like life when you’re 20-something means that there is still a (possible) great 20 more years to go before you die. Like its the next best 20 years of your life where I was meant to work for the most interesting of projects, travel all around the world, fall in love with somebody wonderful and have a life you are proud of telling your grandkids about.

So, when I put myself in a situation like that again. It strucks possibly the toughest nerve in my brain. It really hits me like absolutely nothing I can comprehend properly. It freaks me out about the possibility that my life ends here and I never get to do all the things which I wanted to do. Simply because there is already so many more things which I still want to do. And admittedly, a certain part of me is scared that I would never get a chance to do all that.

Makes sense? And hence when a person wants time to be manipulated – past to a certain point, or back to a certain point, I don’t understand, and neither do I get it. Because we should probably always like ourselves as-is; whether we are a sorority girl, or a strategy consultant; because as-is and the fact that the future is unknown (and hopefully we don’t die in the process) is what makes life well, happy.

If you think about it, time has always been the currency. Pretty young chick with a rich/famous old man (Read: George Clooney) = her time vs his money. Hot young dancer with exceedingly famous old woman (Read: Madonna) = his time vs her money. We work 60 hour weeks, we get a salary in the bank every month’s end = our time vs business money.

But this show boils it down to the literal sense. A coffee costs 4 minutes, a bus ride costs 2 hours…. and we only have that one additional year of our time. Else, well, we die. As such, the rich, who already have a ton of time on their hands, get richer, because they can barter, gamble, abuse and so on so forth their currency, and the poor, beg, borrow, steal for additional time to live on.

I think thats it. If time is the currency, what and who would you use it for?

I spent almost 1.5 months in Asia this time round – running between India (Gurgaon, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai) and Singapore.

And since I’m kind of lazy to type, I am just posting all sorts of random things here.

And some more irrelevant photos.

And slightly more memories since Maaike came along this time round.

I’m in Delhi right now.

I feel that I almost didn’t get there. Somewhat along the lines of:
19 Dec: Putting together 20 different documents because you get a business visa this is what is needed. Crap. In Singapore, this would taken a day.
21 Dec: Realizing that I was going to Milan, and the passport needed to be submitted
22 Dec: Was told that I need to have 10 working days, which put me approximately flying on the 11 Jan
23 Dec: Found out that I was classified as resident, this would take 5 days if done personally. Except I was going to go to Milan.
27 Dec: At consulate. Almost didn’t submit my application, lacked 2 pieces of documents which wasn’t stated. PM saved me.
29 Dec: Company travel desk telling me that 30th is actually a holiday for the consulate and it wasn’t the correct number of days. Helpline assuring me that I will get my passport back on the 3 Jan
3 Jan morning: Travel desk called courier 4x, exclaiming that I was going to leave on the 4 Jan and everything has been booked so it had better be on time
3 Jan evening: Travel desk told me that consulate will release the passport at 5pm closing
4 Jan: Still no passport. Arrived at Schiphol at 930am. Picked up my passport with the Indian visa, crossed the boarding gates at 1050.

Nonetheless, I am here in India, and I’m heading to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Its really great, because this is the first time that I’m ever in India. And my favorite thing to eat is roti prata (this is slowly not becoming the case as ít is becoming a little much after 5 days of roti).

I’m generally feeling the Beijing / Shanghai first project vibe coming back to me, except that time I was a clueless first project consultant and this time I’m on my own with the team here!

So anyway, it was on the second floor of the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam, with a champagne in hand and with friends, that I thought, yes I am still around today. 2011 is just about to end, and I am still here, my family is still in good spirits and health. I am going to finish everything that I started that Christmas of 2009…

Anyway, the plan for 2012 is crazy already and I love it. I’m going Delhi (If I can get that Indian visa by one means or another or fix some flights or another without a secretary) and I’m determined to go because I’ve had 3 needles stuck into me to get vaccinated for all kinds of things. Then I’m tripping over to Singapore to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family (and Maaike’s coming!). Then later, I’m hitting Boston.

Things I realized about myself in 2011 then vs 5 years ago when I first graduated from National University of Singapore with my EE degree realizing how normal I was going to be…

- I’ve become a much happier person

- I’ve become incredibly analytical/logical, and a whole lot less emotional ~ this came out much more when I was in strategy then when I was in engineering for some reason

- I still look like I’m 23

Actually I’m going to stop at three points now because I learnt from someone who knew a friend from Harvard B-school that when you make a statement you should stick with three points and hence every message coming from him has three paragraphs.

I wish everybody happy holidays and Merry Christmas..!!

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