Sam’s Club is selling a Cessna Citation Mustang Light Jet for $2.7 million. Despite Sam’s tradition to sell stuff in bulk, the jet can be purchased individually. I am not sure if this is a good deal since the jet is reported to be priced at $2.6 million. But the good thing is … it comes with a FREE Sam’s Club Membership !
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=7822

Iseng-iseng terinspirasi dari artikel Chirag Mehta tentang membikin tag cloud tentang pidato kenegaraan presiden Amerika, saya membikin program Java sederhana yang menghasilkan tag cloud dari pidato-pidato presiden Indonesia. Ini beberapa hasilnya:

Soekarno, 1 Juni 1945 - Pidato Kelahiran Pancasila

(tepuk - 2 ada adalah agama air antara apa apakah arabia atas badan bahkan bahwa baik bangsa banyak baru belum berani berkata bersatu buat bukan cukup dahulu dapat dasar demikian desir diatas dinamakan dulu dunia golongan hadikoesoemo hal hanya hari harus hati hidup i ia ialah ibn indonesia ingin inilah islam itu? itulah jangan jembatan jikalau katakan kaum kawin kebangsaan kecil kemerdekaan kepada kesatuan kesejahteraan ketua ki kristen lagi lain lebih lenin lima maaf maka manusia marilah memberi mempunyai mendirikan mengadakan menjadi menurut merasa merdeka min minta mufakat mulia nationale negara nippon oleh orang paduka panca perjoangan perkataan permusyawaratan perwakilan politieke prinsip pula punya rakyat rechtvaardigheid sama sampai satu saud saudara saudara-saudara saudara-saudara! saudi sebagai sekali sekalian sekarang seluruh semua semuanya seorang sociale staat suatu sudah supaya tahun tanah tangan telah tempat tentang tetapi tiap-tiap tidak tiga tuan tuan-tuan usulkan weltanschauung yaitu

Tidaklah mengejutkan pidato Soekarno di atas mengandung kata-kata “merdeka”, “nippon”, “satu” dan “rakyat” mengingat situasi pada saat itu. Yang menarik adalah pidato tersebut juga mengandung beberapa istilah dari bahasa Belanda seperti rechtvaardigheid dan weltanschauung.

Megawati Soekarnoputri, Pidato Kenegaraan 16 Agustus 2001

1945 ada adalah agar amandemen amat antara asasi bagi bahkan bahwa baik bangsa banyak baru beberapa berada berat berbagai bersifat besar bila bukan daerah dasar daya demikian diri dukungan dunia ekonomi hak hal hanya harus hidup hubungan hukum indonesia jelas kalangan ke keamanan kebangsaan kehidupan kembali kenegaraan kepada kerangka kesatuan khusus konflik konsep krisis lagi lain lakukan langsung lebih luar maha mampu manusia masa masalah masyarakat maupun melaksanakan melakukan melalui memang memberikan memerlukan mendasar menjadi mereka merupakan modern namun nasional negara oleh pelanggaran penting perlu politik polri rakyat reformasi republik salah satu saudara-saudara sebagai segala sejak sekarang selama seluruh semua sendiri serta sidang sistem sosial suatu sudah sungguh-sungguh tadi tahun tanpa tatanan telah tentang terhadap tersebut tetapi timur tni umum undang-undang wilayah

Kata-kata seperti “keamanan”, “reformasi”, “krisis”, “tni”, “masalah” mendominasi pidato Megawati tahun 2001. Masuk akal mengingat situasi keamanan Indonesia pada saat itu.
Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - Pidato Kenegaraan 16 Agustus 2005

2005 2006 aceh ada adalah alokasi amerika anggaran anggota antara bagi baik bangsa bbm belanja berbagai besar bidang cukup daerah dana dewan dilakukan dunia ekonomi harga hormati hukum indonesia internasional investasi ke kebijakan kepada kerja kesehatan ketua keuangan korupsi lain lalu langkah-langkah lebih masih masyarakat melakukan melalui mencapai meningkatkan menjadi minyak nasional negara negeri oleh pelaksanaan pembangunan pemberantasan pembiayaan pemerintah pendapatan peningkatan persen pertahanan pertumbuhan perwakilan prioritas program rakyat rencana republik rp saudara sebagai sebesar sekitar sektor serta sistem subsidi tahun telah terhadap tersebut terus tingkat triliun upaya

Kata “pemerintah” mendominasi pidato Presiden tahun 2005. “triliun”, “pertumbuhan”, “ekonomi”, “bbm” dan “investasi” juga muncul beberapa kali, menandakan bahwa pidato itu menyinggung masalah perekonomian.

Update: Check out my Playstation 3 auction at eBay.

Nov 5, 2006 12:55AM

A forum post in fatwallet.com says that bestbuy.com is taking pre-orders on PlayStation 3 60GB model (System-ABC SKU: 8008489). Without any hesitation, I entered my credit card number and my order went through! Realizing that this is too good to be true, I don’t put up my hope too high and expect my order to be canceled soon.

I received a confirmation email from bestbuy.com a few minutes after that.

Order Confirmation
November 05, 2006
Order Number: BBY01-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dear XXXXX:

Thank you for shopping at BestBuy.com. We have received your order, and it will be processed as soon as possible.

Shipping
We will send you an e-mail that includes the shipping date and tracking number of your item(s) once they are packed and ready to be shipped from our warehouse. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the item(s) to you.

I started to think that this may be a real deal. I log on the bestbuy.com and check my order status:

Status: 1 item(s) preordered, release date is 11/17/06.

So far so good.

Nov 6, 2006 5:32PM

An email from Best Buy ends my excitement … Oh well, at least I get $10.

1. Enroll in a US accredited university, preferably a Computer Science major. It does not have to be an Ivy League school like Harvard or Yale but avoid small ones where even the locals are not familiar with. Universities with high population of foreign students may help too. They usually have more variety of ethnic food from your country and easier to find friends.
2. Apply F-1 visa at your US embassy. This is probably the hardest part, at least for Indonesian. Convince the visa officer that you will come back to your home country after you are graduated. Try to establish a strong connection between you and your country (family, business, etc).
3. If you are given a programming project from your professor, try to work on an interesting project that will look good in your resume, for example “Design and Implementation of a Lightweight Web Crawler” or “Implementing an Interactive Form using AJAX“.
4. Try to publish as much research papers as you can. No matter how crappy your paper is, it will make you look good, at least on your resume.
5. Get a job at school. As an foreign student you can work up to 20 hours. Try to get a job that is computer related, such as lab assistant, web designer or tech support. Do not waste your time by working at the library, cafeteria or at the gyms.
6. As soon as you are eligible for an internship program, apply for it. Internship is a temporary position (typically 3-6 months) within a company which is usually given to college or university students. Try to land an internship position in a big and well known company. Even if you won’t get full time job in that company, at least you have the experience. And also nothing can beat having “Work experience: Google Internship Program - Summer 2006″ in your resume.
7. After you are graduated, you are entitled for OPT (Optional Practical Training). This is a 12-months period where you can work anywhere without worrying about work visa or green card. Choose the company carefully! This is the best opportunity to obtain a full time job. Do your research and find out if the company sponsors a H-1B visa and green card; and most likely will hire you before your 12-months OPT ends.
8. Apply for H-1B visa. This is a temporary work visa that will allow you to live and work in United States legally for up to 6 years.
9. Before your 6 years time up, apply for green card. Green card is an immigrant status that allows you to work and live in U.S permanently. Applying a green card is a lengthy process but shouldn’t be difficult as long as you have a good company that is willing to sponsor you. There are certain periods during the green card process that make it harder for you to go back to your home country for vacation, so be prepare to not see your family and friends back home for a while.
10. Five years after you get your green card, you are eligible to apply for US citizenship. This step is optional. Some countries do not allow dual citizenship so you may have to give up your original citizenship.

Food is something that I took for granted when I was in Indonesia. All kind of food are available around the clock. Street vendors can be found in every corner of the streets. They even walk around your neighborhood pushing their carts so you don’t even have get out from house to indulge yourself with that hot and steamy nasi goreng.

That is one thing that I miss now, living in United States. Cold weather, strict FDA regulations and cultural differences make it impossible to find “Abang Sate” find 1st Street and 2nd Avenue.

Cooking is maybe one of the first survival skill that you have to learn when you decide to live abroad. Being spoiled with all of the convenience provided at home made the first few years here in US kind of harsh. Lousy Chinese food, McDonalds and pizzas were my main motivators to learn how to cook.

Today, I am not an expert in cooking by any means but I think at least I am able to produce edible and healthy food for myself, my fiancée and sometimes, my guests. My mother and internet are my teachers.
Here are my Top 5 Indonesian Recipes sites.

1. http://www.keluarganugraha.net/resep/
2. http://www.keseharian.com/dapur/
3. http://users.tpg.com.au/stanolin/recipes.html
4. http://www.detikfood.com/
5. http://www.melroseflowers.com/mkic/resep/index.html