stlplace

It’s the holiday season again, this weekend is the MO tax holiday for back-to-school season. Quote the MO state gov web site:
Section 144.049, RSMo, establishes a sales tax holiday during a three-day period beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the first Friday in August and ending at midnight on the Sunday following. Certain back-to-school purchases, […]

Friday evening I was checking out the air fare for the planned China trip later this year. And I found aa.com price irresistible: $1000 from STL to PVG. So I jumped on it. With sky high gas price (and jet fuel), this price seems cheap to me. I remember last year I paid close to […]

Gas and Panera: more saving tips
Yeah, the $4 a gallon gas is finally coming, it’s $3.899 in recent 3 days here in STL. I tried to stretch the gas I put last time at $3.699 as much as I could, but it seems like I will need to put gas either tomorrow or Monday. Meanwhile, […]

(Update May15) My friend Sun also set up a donation page for earthquake relief. He even put up a challenge (match) for Paypal donors. Kudos to him. I sent a check of $51.20 to OSCCF today.

(Source: NPR.org, more pictures from NPR)
(Original) There are lots of organizations one can donate for the China earthquake, such […]

Finally St. Louis gas price is exceeding $3 a gallon. Today marks the first day my gas bill exceeded $40 ($3.179 * 13.105 gallons = $41.66).
I am not complaining, as I know people around the world are paying a much higher price for gas, or paying a higher percentage of their disposal income for […]

I don’t mean to steal immigration lawyers’ business
A few years ago my employer sponsored my GC app including attorney services. But that did not extend to the AP and EAD (optional for me). I heard from a friend that he paid $1,000 lawyer fee for the EAD renewal. So I filled the […]

The caffeine effect
Which one has the most caffeine? A tall (12 fl oz, or 355 ml) brewed coffee, a tall latte with one shot of espresso (both at Starbucks), and a can (12 fl oz) classic Coca Cola?
Your instant answer maybe the latte (espresso), but the correct answer is the brewed coffee. According to […]

I found this Samsung A437 cell phone deal through dealsea. I was thinking about replacing my good old Nokia 6010, not that I am not satisfied with the voice quality etc. I would like to get a flip phone (6010 is a candy bar phone, and I have to lock the keypad to avoid placing […]

This blog is mostly about finance and stocks, but I will share other intereting things as well. After all, life is more than making (or losing) money. (It’s about spending money as well
Wind shield stopped working in ice storm
It happened to me last Thurdsay, in ice storm The wiper quit working after working […]