njc has left 622 comments

njc (Dev team) comments on Email Urban Legend or not

http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/lightsout.asp

njc (Dev team) comments on Going to Colombia by train?

It looks like you could.

njc (Dev team) comments on Tipping in Colombia

I dunno, I think this "NMG" term is kinda funny. You guys say it as if anyone cares how much money you think you have.

njc (Dev team) comments on Paid section on PBH?

What about a Google Answers-style of thread? That way some of the people that take time to write good answers are the ones that benefit as well.

njc (Dev team) comments on Understanding Colombianas

"I am an executive living in Colombia, have been here for some years" Are you "El Gringo" from Betty La Fea?

njc (Dev team) comments on Internet cafe in Cali?

Yeah, an internet cafe that does Western Union wires at the front counter... great idea.

njc (Dev team) comments on Hotel owner tells Hispanic workers to change names

Yeah, I can't count how many Asians in the US named "Eugene" I've met. At least Hispanic names have cognates that sound like names from this century. Ah, and I wonder what John and Mary in the Indian call center did about this.

njc (Dev team) comments on

Try now.

njc (Dev team) comments on

I sent you another one.

njc (Dev team) comments on

I PMed you and asked you for the pic for a reason. I can't find the problem without seeing it myself.

njc (Dev team) comments on They Can't Help Themselves (Can They?)

ROFL. I don't know, man. Those Colombian sauces can be pretty rancid, so maybe you're right about the authentic flavor.

njc (Dev team) comments on They Can't Help Themselves (Can They?)

theflatline, make sure you steal from johnny's collection of spaghetti sauces, it's the only decent tomato sauce you'll be having in Colombia in a looooong time.

njc (Dev team) comments on I escaped from Venezuela!!

How come you didn't just wait for this guy's shift to be over, I bet if you tried it with the next person they wouldn't have cared.

njc (Dev team) comments on

Maybe it was too big before you uploaded it. Try resizing/cropping it first.

njc (Dev team) comments on Poor But Happy !!

Really strange what happened with Spain... they got much more satisfied with life but less happy? I guess they're getting bored.

njc (Dev team) comments on

All pictures are updated immediately. When you see your old picture, hold "CTRL" while you press "F5". That should fix it. That just refreshes your browser's cache.

njc (Dev team) comments on Peso/Pound Trends

I don't think the peso will get much stronger in the short term, for right now I think the Colombian government will step in before there is a big swing in its favor. I would get ready to transfer it within the next 3-4 months, though.

njc (Dev team) comments on stupid question...

njc (Dev team) comments on Can I buy ANY cell phone here and get it unlocked there?

You can call your wireless carrier in the US. When I did, they gave me the instructions over the phone to unlock my Blackberry 8110. Just do a Google search to see what's possible.

njc (Dev team) comments on MY WIFE'S FAMILY

"If you wife really loves you, she will leave her family and let them fend for themselves. Sack up and tell her that you love her, but you can only do what you can do." I don't think that's really an option, once the perception of "someone who can help" is created it's hard to shake, and you'll be seen as just making excuses. Never step out of character and create this problem in the first place. This problem calls for a more elaborate Colombian-style fib to make things more believable.

njc (Dev team) comments on Tranmilleno would be better if it was public transportation or worse?

Maybe when it's raining on a Friday afternoon, someone would actually care if the "sobrepeso" light came on.

njc (Dev team) comments on Estimated Costs for living in Bogota

You should work out the budget in pesos, since if you ask for a budget in dollars you will get exchange rate estimation bias. Also, the exchange rate can change a lot so you need to give yourself a margin in your budget, +/- 20% I'd say. I assume you just mean "baseline" living expenses, not including recreation/health care/gym membership/whatever/doing anything other than staying home when not working. So, budget for that as well (++transportation, ++food, ++other). Here, I'll respond to your estimates individually: >Arrienda: range of $250-550 I guess that range includes a lot of options, so I'll say that budgeting COP$850,000 leaves plenty of options for two people. >Electricity/water months: $60 COP$110,000, looks about right. >Gas: $40 Probably a lot less, even with a gas water heater in Estrato 4, it'll probably only be COP$8,000 to COP$20,000. >Transportation: $80(don't know if there is a trans milenio pass) I don't think there's a transmilenio pass. But that should be just enough to go on the transmilenio 90% of the time and take a taxi a couple times, assuming you never need to go anywhere during the weekend. >Food: $250 That leaves about COP$7,500 per person per day to eat. Not really that much. Just for reference, you can get a decent lunch out for COP$5,000 to COP$7,000. The price difference between cooking at home and eating out is really not that much, you won't save more than 20-30% eating at home in my opinion. >Telephone/Internet Connection: $35 COP$65,000, I guess that should cover it. Maybe a little more, depending on what area you live in and what service you get. >Cell Phone expenses: $30 Depends how talkative you are. If you go pre-paid, calculate from COP$300 or so per minute.

njc (Dev team) comments on

NP Simon, if you got the language bar set up it's actually a lot easier/faster to use if you type a lot of both Spanish and English text. It's worth it to spend the time to set it up.

njc (Dev team) comments on

Here you go, Simon: http://tinyurl.com/yz3ngnk

njc (Dev team) comments on

Okay, so is this "Characters" thing that I just pointed out not working for some people or what? To me it seems painfully obvious and easy enough to use.

njc (Dev team) comments on

Guys. Look below the commenting area. Just above "Comment!". Click on "Characters". Copy and paste.

njc (Dev team) comments on Medical system in Colombia. What can the US learn?

Yes, as phillyguy says, same number of years--but there is much more to the situation than just the number of years we declare that someone has a patent.

njc (Dev team) comments on Colombia - United States relations - historical background

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombia_–_United_States_relations

njc (Dev team) comments on Medical system in Colombia. What can the US learn?

I really don't see what there is to gain from looking at the US healtcare system through the eyes of a Colombian, nor even making comparisons the systems in the two countries. I think that the legal infrastructure in the two countries with respect to IP rights are so different that we can't even start comparing costs. Take, for example, prescription medications. I'm guessing that very few medications on the market in Colombia were formulated in Colombia. Drug R&D is extremely expensive and what portion of that does the average Colombian drug consumer pay? Probably next to nothing, because the company that makes it in Colombia ripped the idea off of another company that actually did the hard part. Same thing goes for medical equipment. In Colombia you can make a factory with counterfeit machines, sell "Not for Resale" items for resale, and re-sell minutes on your personal cell phone plan (and even make a living doing so). These are things that just won't fly in the US or other places. It's not an issue of quality since these things don't affect the quality of service to the end user, yet they lower the price to him. In the US we have the task of maintaining incentives for companies to innovate, especially in the medical industry.

njc (Dev team) comments on A/C business in Cali. Good or bad idea?

I guess maybe for apartments, but most houses in Cali are open-air. What's your target market/where will you work?

njc (Dev team) comments on Pissed off a Medellin BANCOLOMBIA teller this morning

"Qué mi dios te pagué (...)". You were depositing to God's account? I didn't know He used Bancolombia.

njc (Dev team) comments on Power vacuum fuels vicious drug war

Video: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2009/10/13/penhaul.cocaine.war.new.cnn

njc (Dev team) comments on Does anybody know where I can buy a good working used empenada cart in Medellin?

That's a perfect idea Brians. Extending on that, I think he should go with the double-seater, using one seat for the tank and supplies: It has potential!

njc (Dev team) comments on

"I have 80k in available credit in the states. I have 0 in Colombia even though I have tried hard." Eh, unless you plan to make pesos to pay back your loans, why exactly wouldn't you just borrow in the US and bring the money to Colombia? Interest rates are lower. Does anyone have any idea how exactly credit is tracked in Colombia? How well does one's cédula number track them and who exactly is in charge of keeping those records?

njc (Dev team) comments on Information needed for business plan

marlydog1812, if you just need information about visas, you can find it all on the internet. If you want information about running a business, I think it might be hard to give to you if you don't want to give any substantive information about the business or asking specific questions. Start by narrowing down your concerns.

njc (Dev team) comments on Demographic profile of Colombian cities

"(...) a long list of tiny, shitty islands!" Including San Andrés and Providencia?

njc (Dev team) comments on Electrical/Electronics whiz in PBH?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_standards_conversion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC -- shows that Colombia uses NTSC. If you bring your 220V PAL television, no one is going to want it, so you'll probably have to take it back home if you leave Colombia before it loses all its value to you.

njc (Dev team) comments on

Wow, it's like a stairway to heaven...

njc (Dev team) comments on HOW Safe is Venezeula?????

Unless you want to pay 3x normal prices for things, you need to do some research.

njc (Dev team) comments on HOW Safe is Venezeula?????

Changing dollars in Mérida is no problem, just ask around at a few hostels. Everyone knows at least one person that does it. If you run out of money in Mérida and have extra time, it's cheap enough (45 bolívares, about $8, each way) to run back to the border and use a Colombian ATM to get pesos, then change for Bolívares.

njc (Dev team) comments on So, the PBH Visa Wiki might look like this...

Looks pretty good.

njc (Dev team) comments on TO GO TO Venezeula after Colombia??????

Are you talking about changing money? Just do it at the bus station in Cúcuta.

njc (Dev team) comments on Beginning salary?

Ah, sloopskipper, you were referring to NJ so I was talking about US vs. Colombia.

njc (Dev team) comments on Beginning salary?

Yeah, let's not even go there. There are too many differences in the education requirements/credentials system that there is no use in comparing salaries for MDs.

njc (Dev team) comments on Beginning salary?

Not exactly what you asked for, but it might help to get an idea: http://www.portafolio.com.co/finanzas/guias/lauoportunidades/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR_PORTA-5306968.html

njc (Dev team) comments on Looking for ino on Buses serviing Bogota - Aquitania

http://www.terminaldetransporte.gov.co/home/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=12 has one company listed as going there regularly.

njc (Dev team) comments on

What happened to az?

njc (Dev team) comments on Buenos dias. Are there any half colombian people here?

The picture is to the left... or you mean that his Colombian half is on the right?

njc (Dev team) comments on how many numbes in a colombian mobile number?

Yeah, I'm with vicshere and larumberainglesa, probably an American GF that he stopped to see before going to Colombia. Deserves a good English style bollocking when he gets back.

njc (Dev team) comments on Confession and apology

machin1967, don't you think she should be in school or something? Instead of playing trophy wife/girlfriend?