Sachin Agarwal: December 2004

This was a year of the highest highs and the lowest lows. Without the lows, it was definitely the best year of my life. With them, I guess it all balances out (doesn't it always?).

In 2004 I did many of the things I've talked about for years. I moved to San Francisco and I absolutely love it. I bought a Miata roadster, which in some ways I like driving even more than my BMW.

Lots of traveling. The tail end of a trip to India, and then New York, Austin, Vegas, Brazil, and ending in Costa Rica.

Work has been absolutely amazing. I've accomplished a lot this year, had a great NAB 2004, demos to the executives, and I've taken on a lot more responsibility.

Outside of work, Apple has been incredible. People are finally realizing it's worth it to pay a little more for our superior products. The new iMac, iPod mini, and other products are a huge success.

2004 was a year spending more time with great friends, going out more. Aki and I also built a new online classifieds system, which should launch early next year.

I kept myself busy this year, but at the same time it was a year with the most free time I've ever had, the shortest to do list i've ever maintained, the smallest inbox of my life (since email started).

I hope in 2005 I can continue all the highs of 2004, and leave on the lows behind.

In 2005 I will take every opportunity I get, try new things, go to new places. I will never back down from a chance to do anything new.

And now I'm off to Costa Rica. Happy New Year!

Bad:
At&t: they lied to my mom and signed her up for Voice over IP telephone service by telling her it costs half as much (which it does). They didn't tell her it was hard to install, they would charge her $150 to install it, it doesn't work with her home security system, it depends on her cable modem, if her internet goes down so does her phone.

The salesman are a bunch of bastards who take advantage of people who don't know about current technology (which most people don't). We are switching back to Verizon. I hope AT&T goes bankrupt. Now my mom is at home with no phone service and no home security system. Good thing she has tmobile.

Good:
My mom had to send in her iPod for repair. Apple sent her a box for it which had to be sent back with DHL. DHL picked it up within 15 minutes of her calling them. They are pushing hard to take some of UPS and FedEx's business, which will be hard with all the UPS stores and FedEx Kinkos locations. The UPS store tried to sell me stamps above face value. Screw that. Go DHL.

Blockbuster. I hated this company with a passion. They charge so much for movie rentals, and then try to make money off late fees. 12 noon return times? Designed to screw over people thinking "I'll return it tomorrow morning." yeah right.

They actually have a new policy which is quite good. You have a one week grace period to return a movie with no fee. After that you own the movie. If you do return it within 30 days, you get most of your money back. Works for me.

For now I'm sticking with Netflix because I refuse to use a company that basically copies someone else's innovation and charges a little less money. But if Blockbuster continues to move in this direction, they may have me as a customer.

http://maps.yahoo.com/ has done it again and added another awesome feature. To recap:

maps and directions (duh)
saves history and address book (login to my.yahoo.com)
click on restaurants, banks, shopping, churches, etc and see dots on any map for what exists in the area. very cool.

And now, real time traffic! On any map you can click the "traffic" button and it colors all the freeways and tells you how fast cars are moving. It tops out at 55mph but it's still super cool and useful.

update: Aki showed me this cool option to show you all the wireless spots on any map. They are displayed using the stupid Centrino logo. Centrino: Being two years behind Apple is better than never figuring it out at all.

Gary and I went to Brazil for a week. We spent 5 days in Rio De Janeiro and then 2 days in Iguassu falls. It was really awesome. My first time in South America, and pretty much my first time in a completely unknown place where I can't even speak the language!

Highlights:
1. Awesome, awesome food. We went to several fancy fusion restaurants where we ate for about $30, the equivalent of $100-150 US meal. The best food and drinks I've ever had. One big surprise was we went to a place called "Arab" that was right on a lake, and had the "Super Mix Arab". I have to try more middle eastern food in SF.

2. Went to a concert on top of Sugar Loaf to see Brazilian pop star Jorge Ben Jor.

3. Took a tour of a Favella (slums). Not quite City of God, but we still saw how the poor live in Rio. Supposedly one of the guys we met was a drug lord. Our tour guide (Paulo) was really awesome. He spent all his time running an after school program for kids, and held some post in the Favella to clean up the city and deal with Rio government.

4. Iguassu Falls. One of the natural wonders of the world. I have always had a thing for waterfalls. After going to Niagara I wanted to go back. This was way bigger and cooler. It was much longer, more powerful, more green and scenic.

We were very lucky and stayed at the Tropical Das Cataratas Hotel which was just a few feet from the waterfalls. If we could cut down a couple trees, we could see the falls from our room.

On the brazil side we walked down a path until we were standing next to the falls, and then at one point on a catwalk right on the edge.

Then we took a boat ride that took us under one of the falls and got us drenched.

The next day we went to the Argentinian side of the falls which was even more beautiful. There were catwalks that ran over them all the way across. It included a section called "The Devil's Throat" which was about 270 degrees of powerful waterfalls.

Other things:
Bike ride through Ipanema, Copcabana, and the rest of Rio
Rooftop swimming pool in Ipanema beach
chocolate filled churros

Interesting notes:
It was definitely a bit strange being in South America. There weren't many tourists outside our hotel and people were definitely looking at us weird. But it was cool to be in the same restaurants, bars, clubs, and beaches as the locals.

Tipping is an automatic 10% which is nice since you don't have to worry about that calculation. At one bar we went to, they would hand you a card as you entered. As you bought drinks they swiped your card and billed you. Then you paid as you left. Makes so much sense.

More than once I thought to myself that although Rio and South America are great, I sorta wanted to go to India. In India you have much of Rio (beautiful girls, great food, everything is cheap) but in addition to that I have this total connection there. I speak the language, I understand the people, and I feel like I belong there. It's totally strange since I never lived in India, but I still feel more comfortable there then anyplace else. I definitely want to check out the rest of the world, but I've also decided I will go to India every couple of years. December 2005...

Click here for Brazil pictures

I was sick of paying ATM fees. I love Bank of America, but I often find myself in need of money, nowhere near a BofA ATM. That means I have to pay fees to the bank's ATM I use, AND to B of A. Lame.

So I did some research and opened an account at First Internet Bank of Indiana. It sounds sketchy but they are actually really great. Their reviews on epinions.com are a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

First Internet Bank offers free banking, free checking, free ATM usage. Not only do they not charge any fees for any ATM I use, but they REFUND the fees that the other banks charge. So if I go to a random ATM and withdraw $60, that bank may charge a $3 fee. So First Internet bank sees a debit of $63. They divide by 5 and refund the remainder ($3).

Opening an account is simple. Fill out an application, mail it in with a check. In 5 days I got an email with my login, 2 days later I got my checkbook, atm card, and pin.

This may sound minor but it's actually quite nice to be able to use any ATM you see on the street. I highly recommend this as a second bank.

A couple weeks ago, Aki and I saw Second Generation at the South Asian Film Festival in SF. This movie (actually a 2 part TV show from BBC) stars Parminder Nagra from Bend it Like Bekham and ER.

The movie was yet another East meets West culture clash, but this movie was not a comedy. I think they tried to do a little too much in the movie, but it was still very interesting to see the topic in a much more serious light.

I don't want to give away the movie, but I'll say the end is surprising. Most people I talked to thought the ending coule never happen, but it's something that I sorta wish for a little.

Also, Parminder herself was at the movie for Q&A and she walked right by me! She is so hot. Aki, Parminder and I had Indian food after the movie. Sadly we didn't go to the same restaurant.