Applying for a US visa on SA passport

Recently I had my UK passport stolen and had to fly out to the USA 2 weeks later. I was in Botswana at the time of the theft so I really had pressure.

I was able to apply online for an appointment at the US Consulate General in Cape Town and initially it said the earliest appointment was 4 November. I needed to get it done way sooner than that. I phoned the US Consulate General later that day and was advised that the booking slots had changed and I could get to them on 31 October. First lesson to learn:

22Seven - Protect your money by setting up a view-only account (FNB)

Old Mutual's online financial support service, 22seven, seems to be the big deal when it comes to managing your finances. The service is explained here:

https://www.22seven.com/manage-your-money

but the most important part is that it extracts information from your account/s by logging in.

To avoid the however-unlikely risk of the service being compromised and someone nefarious having access to your money, you are best advised to set up a view-only account.

With FNB it's a few steps, as outlined below (YMMV with other banks) in a picture story.

Login and select Online Banking Settings

View Secondary Users

Add User, giving an appropriate Name

Fill out the information

Set up Inactive Account Manager for Google

All sorts of things can happen in life:\

• Sickness
• Disability
• Total loss of electricity (only in South Africa, thanks ANC and Jacob Zuma)
• Abduction by terrorists
• Abduction by aliens
• You go to heaven
• You go to hell

If you want your data available to your spouse, friend, loved one, or dog, then you need to ensure Google has your Inactive Account Manager settings - to do this follow this link

https://www.google.com/settings/account/inactive

and set it up - it will take you five minutes and will save your family, friend, loved one, or dog many weeks (months, or even years) of agony getting access to your personal content.

Go on, do it. It's the responsible thing to do.

Cell C contract considerations - just my opinion on how to save some cash

Cell C is - at least on the surface - doing a lot right at the moment, which to me is really no surprise since they've got the former Vodacom CEO now!

Simplifying the contracts has been a breath of fresh air - R1 gets you 1MB, 1SMS/MMS, 1 minute airtime (at 99c per minute per second billing).

Cell C offers you a bunch of these "bundle" deals from R30 per month to R800pm.

The way I see this unfolding is unless you intend to use SMSs and lots of data, you don't want to pay for the bigger contracts, and here's my reasoning, by means of an example:

	Allocated Minutes	Used Minutes	Out of Bundle Minutes	Carry-over Minutes	Cost per month
Straight up 100	100	153	53	0	R152.47
Straight up 200	200	153	0	47	R200.00

If you sign up for R100pm (100mins, 100SMSs, 100MB) then you can use up to 100 minutes without paying out extra. If you end up using 153 minutes, you'd pay 99c * 53 (which is R52.47) on top of your 100 minutes (R100) giving you a total usage for the month of R152.47. The alternative is to get the next one up - the R200 per month deal. In the same example above you'll use 153 minutes, bank 47 unused, and pay R200 - you've wasted R47 because if you're not using those 47 minutes, they're just sitting there slowly accumulating and eventually expiring. That's a R47 loss per month on airtime you're not using. 

This is the important factor: Banking the minutes is irrelevant with Cell C because you will be storing up minutes you've not used, that you've paid for, and won't ever get around to using (exhibited by your average monthly usage) whereas the reverse is better - only pay for what you use and that's it - no risk of banked minutes expiring or paying for airtime you won't use. 

Of course, the ONLY benefit to the extra R100pm on contract is the additional 100MB and 100SMSes but if you don't plan to use that much data, you're better off with my idea.

Over one year the Straight up 100 will cost you R1 829.64 and the Straight up 200 will cost you R2 400.00 which is almost four months paid up on Straight up 100.

So, in my opinion, pay for what you need and then go on pay-as-you-use because you won't end up with extra minutes being banked. The cost per minute remains 99c out of bundle anyway, so actually from a pure talktime perspective, it's cheaper to go with 99c per minute than the R1 per minute in bundle.

A trick to get free delivery on TAKEALOT.COM

If you're into your online shopping as much as I am*, you'll probably do the odd purchase (or not so odd ;-)) from TAKEALOT.COM. The most frustrating part of the purchase is knowing you are going to have to pay R35 for delivery if your order is under R250; sometimes this doesn't make the purchase all that much appealing or even worthwhile (> 10% of the total purchase being added on as the delivery fee alone feels a bit steep).

The good news is if you do a frequent (or at least once every three years) shop at TAKEALOT.COM, you can spruce up your total to the required R250 minimum qualifier for free delivery by buying yourself TAKEALOT.COM vouchers!

I know this seems a bit silly to tie your money into TAKEALOT.COM, but if you are going to buy from them again in the future you may just be saving yourself that R35 delivery fee. Think about it after considering this example:

You want to buy a R150 item but will have to add on R35 for delivery (that's more than 20% of the actual product cost being added on as a delivery fee). If you buy a R100 voucher, your voucher is valid for 3 years and you don't pay for delivery now.

When you buy your next order six months later, you redeem your R100 from the voucher, and if your new order is over the R250 threshold, your delivery is free, so you won't need to buy another voucher, and in fact have spent less on the second order because of the redeemed voucher, and have realised the R35 saving from before!

I know this seems a bit like hard work for a saving but every bit counts, and if you are regularly buying under R250, you're essentially wasting R35 on each delivery.

I'm just saying, think about it. Be creative. You could end up saving yourself enough money from delivery fees (R35 per order) to pay for that R150 original order if you make four purchases a year!

* not that I do a lot of online purchases! My last order from TAKEALOT.COM was in June (that's almost six months ago)

Free undercover parking for as long as you like at Westwood Shopping Centre

I don't promote nefariously abusing what I'm about to tell you but use it if you feel justified in doing so...

You know how you have to pay R5 for 1 hour's worth of undercover parking at Westwood? Well, shopping at Pick 'n' Pay gives you 90 minutes free parking but what if you end up being delayed in the queues to pay for your shopping and the 90 minutes expires? Simple: swipe your ticket again!

You see, the system at Westwood seems to work by setting your timer back 90 minutes (e.g. 12h00 arrival becomes an effective 13h30 arrival so at 12h45 the system technically sees you as 'not having arrived yet') but when the 90 minutes is up the system seems to just count up from zero again (you've arrived at 13h30 so it counts as normal from then) so if you then swipe your ticket for another 90 minutes of free parking it thinks you're resetting another 90 minutes (e.g. 13h30 'arrival' becomes an effective 15h00 arrival).

If you are already within the 90 minute cycle then swiping your ticket again has no effect. You have to wait for the 90 minute cycle to end before doing this again.

And yes, I've done it myself and have had a friend do it too so it definitely works.

Feel free to +1 me if this post is helpful.

To boldly go...

I recently upgraded to a BlackBerry Torch 9800 and I have to say, in a small nutshell, it's the worst BlackBerry I've ever used. Really bad on so many levels. I won't go into that now but suffice to say I have tried to have it swapped out.

I phoned VODASHOP Westwood (the store in question) and requested the procedural information to swap out a handset for a new model if it's within seven days (which in my case it is). The manager said it's not possible to exchange a handset unless it's faulty, in which case you still get a replacement model of the same type in return. I then politely referred him to the Consumer Protection Act and said it was, by law, possible to exchange a handset for another one. He insisted that even though there is a CPA, I have already signed all relevant CPA documents when I upgraded so I am bound by the contract.

(boxing gloves were lying next to my desk but I resisted putting them on)

I politely pointed out he was incorrect and added that I was simply not prepared to fight about it. I could get lawyers involved and it would just become messy for everyone and rather I just wanted to know if there was a stress-free way for me to be assisted and he said he was very sorry but no. Fine. I'm not bothered about it - I am not keen on bringing in the law either; my energy is far too sapped for that. The Old Bryan would have fought tooth and nail but the New (Older) Bryan is more mellow.

As I was about to go the manager asked for my information and said he would put out some feelers to see if anyone would be able to help with a new 9780 Bold for me as a swap out and I said that was great but that I wouldn't hold my hopes out. We departed on very amicable terms with him promising to help me get a replacement if he could and me promising not to fight them for breach of CPA.

The moral of the story? You can get a lot of cover through the CPA and if anyone at a store tries to be obtuse then just thrust those three magical letters and stand steadfast behind it. If they insist you're wrong, insist back that they are wrong, even if you're not sure, and chances are 99% of the time they'll back down because they won't want to have hefty penalties or law suits on their hands. Just act confident (even if you're not sure) and you can get your way now and get the quality customer service you deserve*.

* I am not trying to advocate petty intimidation or arm-twisting but rather encouraging you to use the CPA that is there to protect you and to hopefully encourage most retailers to improve their customer service to the level we, as consumers, are entitled to.

British Passport renewal made EASY in South Africa

If you have to renew your British Passport (or apply for a new one) then you'll probably be as oblivious to the procedure as I was before I'd had to do it for myself. Not even knowing where to start, the logical first choice is to make use of one of these passport services to get the job done - after all, it should save you some time and these guys know their business and probably have connections to get things fast-tracked, right?

Well, as it turns out, not really. I concede that these passport services are really helpful and knowledgeable about what the procedure entails but specifically with my experience with a British Passport renewal, I don't think they're worth the cost or the time and effort of going down to their offices because you can actually do everything besides the photographs (unless you're skillful enough) from the comfort of your home.

From start to finish my entire application took under three weeks to be done (6 July to 22 July) and I did it all myself. I am now once again the proud owner of a British Passport and am a bona fide British Citizen! Doing it yourself will save you a good deal of money (it's not pocket change by any stretch so if you found my blog post useful feel free to send me 10% of your savings) and actually save you some time too.

Since this post is about the EASY way(s) to renew your passport I have included both information on passport services that offer the luxury of doing it for you as well as the DIY method which I recommend.

The first thing you will need to know is that my method may differ slightly from yours because I am a full-blown UK citizen with right of abode and am in possession of my own (expired) passport. The methods listed below will probably be the same for most of you but just in case they're not, I am very keen to update this post if you have a different experience so feel free to leave comments below. Everything I needed is highlighted in red font so keep an eye out for these if you are renewing your passport and already have your current or expired one.

The procedure - in summary

1. Fill in the required forms
1. http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/central-content-pdfs/form-c1.pdf
2. http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/central-content-pdfs/form-c1-notes.pdf
2. You will need to sign an online credit card authorisation form if you're paying by credit card. 
3. Get the photographs taken
1. Find someone upstanding to be a countersignatory and make sure you follow the correct guidelines (below)
4. Submit via courier - they recommend Supaswift (pty) Ltd and I used them. R220 for their basic fee. I applied online in the evening on Wednesday 6 July and they came to collect Thursday noon and again on Friday morning (diligent!)
1. Durbanites and Port Elizabethans can also make use of the British Cultural & Heritage Association (bcha1820@global.co.za) to courier their documentation once a month in a group bag. Contacts are 031 202 6174 and 041 585 3416 respectively.
5. They claim that it takes around 4 weeks and if you want to follow progress, phone Careline on 0044 208 082 4743 but have your credit card ready because it costs 72p+VAT per minute! My application took fewer than 3 weeks.

That's it, in a nutshell! The more detailed procedure of how to do each of these steps is listed below. I confess I have hotlinked other sites' forms in my post but have referenced them at the bottom.

BEWARE counterfeit Transcend JetFlash USB drives!

Earlier this week my friend Oltman and I were on our way to a DELL conference in Umhlanga Ridge area when we spotted some guys selling 32GB Transcend USB flashdrives at the side of the road while we waited at the robots. We asked how much they were and they said R150. This is a tremendous bargain. I was immediately tempted but more than that suspicious. I contacted RECTRON and asked them about this (Rectron is currently selling the same product for R599+VAT) and requested some documentation on the counterfeit flashdrives.

For your benefit, and so you can warn your colleagues, here it is in its entirety:
https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=ddj7mhbd_18gt8hjbdp

Or click to read more and see the embedded slideshow...

Getting the date and time right: YY/MM/DD vs. DD/MM/YY

A recent comment made by one of my readers (yes, you know who you are, since you're the only reader :)) has spurred me on to writing this reply. It's simply to put the world in the know, because I fear South Africa will forever be trapped in the cycle of inefficiency and stupidity until we see the logic in the way the date should be organised:


First of all, I don't change the time standard as my esteemed reader alleges. I USE THE LOGICAL time standard. Have you ever wondered why the USA is leaps ahead of RSA in terms of efficiency and development? Here's why:

USA uses the date format of YY/MM/DD vs. the RSA standard format of DD/MM/YY.
If we had a phone bill received on the 1st of every month, then they would be sorted by date as follows:

USA:
2010/01/01 (January)
2010/02/01 (February)
2010/03/01 (March)
and so on

RSA:
01/01/2010 (January)
01/02/2010 (February)
01/03/2010 (March)
and so on

If we want to file all of our telephone bills into folders, if they all arrived on the 1st of the month, then in the USA they'd be filed in a cabinet labeled 2010 in a folder labeled "January", "February", "March" and so on. In RSA they'd be filed in a cabinet labeled "Day 1" in a folder labeled "January". In the USA you'd need one cabinet per year, and in RSA you'd need one cabinet per day (i.e. 31 cabinets per year).

If we wanted to filter out the a phone bill from November 2010, if it was sorted by RSA format we'd need to dig into the file of "1st's" and sift through piles of notes from January through to December 2000 through to 2010 before we found the one we wanted. In other words, to find November 2010's phone bill, you'd dig into a folder of about 120 notes because they've been filed by the Day and then the Month and then only the Year.

The US standard of YY/MM/DD is much more logical because to find November 2010, you start in the 2010 (YY) folder, then the 11 (MM) folder, and then hey presto, there's only one phone bill in that folder.

I am not for the illogical pounds and ounces and inches stuff, but the date sorting makes sense, and that's how I've always used it.

To verify my explanation, go ahead and see for yourself: click on the DATE tab in your explorer and see how it sorts your files - if it's DD/MM/YY does it help you to find your date-organised files as efficiently as if you sorted by YY/MM/DD?

Free legal docs

I've certainly had my fair share of legal wranglings in the past few years, and it pretty much all started when I decided to marry Katherine*!

One thing I've grown to appreciate from my legal experiences is how useful it is to have access to free legal documents with a South African flavour, and finally I think I've found a site that offers this!

http://www.freelegaldocs.co.za/ seems to have no strings attached and provides - at the very least - useful templates to work from for matters ranging from Company documents (CM9, CM22) to Home Affairs documents (Applications for Birth Certificates, VISA) through to Property documents (Commercial / Residential leases, Power of Attorney in Respect of Property). I am very satisfied that there is enough here to play around with for me, starting with Birth Certificates and my Last Will and Testament.

* It must be noted that Katherine is not the cause of the legal wranglings, but marriage was just the start of our dealings with lawyers.

OPT OUT OF DIRECT MARKETING!

[ UPDATE 2012-03-19: you can now also go to https://www.nationaloptout.co.za/ ]

Pertinent information:

• Direct Marketing opt out register is located here.
• If you want to, you can also SMS your information as per the website's instructions: "SMS DMA followed by your ID number (this is crucial) to 34385".
• If at some stage you find you're not getting reached by the people you would like to be reached by (e.g. a charity organisation), you can opt back in by de-registering: To de-register, contact the DMA on 0861 362 362.

Story follows:

Around half an hour ago I received a call that drove me to the brink of beating down on Cell C. I got this call from 0878051200 from an agent named Audrey. I told them they must have the wrong person because I don't have a contract with Cell C. She then repeated my FULL name (middle name too) and number, and I confirmed it was me but there must be some mistake. She then said I had been pre-selected to qualify for a free phone. Woohoo! Then it turned there was a catch: It's a contract. I told her no thank you, but that I am very concerned as to how Cell C obtained all of my personal information. She said it was pooled from a selection of 200 numbers from VODACOM, MTN, and such. I said this was an invasion of my privacy and I wanted to be opted out of this and also find out who gave my personal details out. She then cut me off.

Not one to go down without some sort of a fight when it comes to principles and personal rights, I then phoned her back. I got put onto the waiting queue for Cell C and eventually got through to - surprise surprise - CUSTOMER CARE. The agent that answered was a bit surprised, and then told me that I can get off these marketing lists if I phone METONYMY on 031-5666592. 

I got through to reception, and asked to speak to someone about removing me from marketing lists. I was told to "kindly phone" 031-5663352 and ask the lady who answers (Rachel) to put me through to Natalie. Damn that Bioshock "would you kindly"... anyway, I got through to Natalie, and she has been incredibly helpful. I asked her if she would kindly explain how my details are obtained, and she then explained the entire process to me.

Handy Dishwashing Tips!

Who would have thought that the dishwasher could soon become known simply as "the washer", what with all of these nifty dishwashing uses? Check it out!

Only thing I need to know is - has anyone been able to verify some of these suggestions??

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22156/86378-eighteen-surprising-uses-dishwasher#1

Body Language - be the boss!!

In recent times, based on experiences I've had (or rather, suffered), I decided to do some digging to see if maybe some of my body language is the reason why I am not always taken seriously with people that don't know me.

Here are two links that may help you and the way you conduct yourself. For me, thankfully, I don't do most of these things wrong, but I will now at least be much more intentional about my body language as a tool for communication and conveying authority so I can be even more effective and also less doubtful of the reasons for why I am sometimes treated the way I am.

Save money the "smart" way

For those loyal readers that don't follow anyone else's blog but mine for up-to-the-minute smart, insightful and handy tips for life, I'd like to take this opportunity to advise you all that YOU HEARD THIS TIP HERE FIRST:

HandyTechTips blog has a suggestion on how you can save between 5% to 15% off Woolworths merchandise if you have an eBucks account! Check it out!

Remember: You heard this money-saving tip here first!

Travelling to the USA

As most of you know, Katherine and I are traveling to the USA for December / January.... in order to get this trip going, we are going to need to have our paperwork in order. One of the requirements for any South African visiting the USA is the acquirement of a VISA for the US. Kat already has one (expires in ten years from date of issue), and I need to get one (as of writing this post, I found my British Passport, so I don't need one, but for the rest of the South Africans, you can follow my advice below)

Hot Cans (keep it clean, kids)

If you're already struggling to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, the last thing on your mind beyond running as fast as possible away from the hordes, is eating. This problem only occurs to you once you've found some safe space to hide away for a while, but mark my words - in a full-blown stage 4 zombie outbreak, you're going to need some decent food to keep you going, and the sooner you plan for it, the better.

Spelling 101: definAtely vs. definItely

I am a wordsmith.

Yes, I am, because I said so during my wedding speech and half the audience chuckled nervously because they had no idea what a wordsmith was. One man - Joe Graham (a real man if ever there was one) - cried out "yes, you are!" or something to that effect (to quote him, he shouted "it's a real word, it's true"), so I know that at least half of our closest friends and family aren't ignorant cretins.

However, the sad reality is, today I was dealt a blow to my intellectual haughtiness by a lady who calls herself my "Editor" for the game reviews I'm doing.

You see, it turns out that spelling the word definitely with an A (as in "definately") is absolutely wrong. There's no middle ground here. The word is spelt "definitely" plain and simple. Upon considering her correction, I started to wonder how on earth I had ever spelt it with an A in the first place. The scary thing is, when I type the word "definitely" I instinctively go to the A letter and yet, it's completely wrong. It is obviously an extension of the word 'finite" and I don't seem to be able to convince my hands or my brain of this fact.

Here are a few websites to corroborate my story:

http://www.google.co.za/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=spelling+definatelyhttp://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=definately

The most interesting thing for me, is the definition itself from URBANDICTIONARY.COM says "Idiot-speak for "definitely". One of the most common moronic misspellings found on the internet" and "The word many people use to spell 'definitely' until they suddenly realise they've been spelling it the wrong way" and finally, "'definitely,' as blogged, emailed, or texted by a complete moron."

So there we have it... I am a complete moron. And besides that, I can now confidently say that there is definately no A in the word "definitely". I have been duly rebuked.

Hands-on Tech Tips - you've stolen my dream!

Damn you HTT, damn you for all of your usefulness and helpfulness! I see I now have a real rival in the blogosphere for South African handy tips - and you've got a miles-long head-start on me, and made it to 2nd spot ...

I have to admit it, I am INSANELY jealous right now of how useful this blog is, and of all the tips it posts up. I have a feeling it's my long-lost twin brother running that blog, because that's the sort of scheming mind I have, and he's sharing his truth with the world. You go, buddy! Tell the world!

Check out this really helpful blog: http://handytechtips.blogspot.com/ ... I have to confess it's really handy stuff from what I've seen, and it can apply to a world of people - how to save money on Discovery, hot to get the best prepaid top-up value from the service providers, where to go to get your under-16 kid free movies for a year, etc. Looks really promising :)

Consumers beware! Do your homework!

Case 1: HD on analog? Blu-ray fail!