Category: Life Tips

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Life Tips

Not all fast food places are equal

Reading Time: 4 minutes

On this past Sunday evening, I learned a harsh lesson on the fast food and order food via mobile apps. It’s not the 1st time I waited a loooooooong time for the food. During pandemic I recalled once I waited probably one hour at the Panda Express not far from where I live, when I was using the Uber Eats app. I learned lesson and didn’t go back there for a loooooooong time. After the embargo period, I only go there via drive through, or sometimes when their door is open, I will go inside and order food.

I also often go to Chick-fil-A (CFA), Culver’s and Panera (St. Louis Bread Co., or just Bread Co here). I never had issues at all 3. All are fairly friendly places. Using mobile apps ordering food is quite ubiquitous nowadays. This may be get more popular during pandemic and this change seems kept intact post pandemic – the other day I saw a bunch of people wait for food (online order) at Noodles Co, and I recall before pandemic during dinner time, there were usually quite a few diners eating there. Personally I use the restaurants app / website such as CFA, Corner 17, Five Guys, McDonald’s, Noodles Co, Panera, Pot Belly’s, Pickle-man, Raising Cane’s, Shake Shack, Taco Bell, Taike, etc., and sometimes the food delivery app / website (I mainly do pickup though) such as Chowbus (Asian ethnic foods) (Grub-hub (Seamless) and Uber Eats. In very few cases I would run into issues. And I don’t really care much if the restaurants miss one or two items: I think mostly are honest mistakes and we all make mistakes as we are humans.

But on last Sunday the fast food place Popeyes gave me a lesson on this again: not all fast food places are equal. We ordered food from the mobile app (first time I used their app). And we planned to dine in the restaurant. I waited quite patiently. After a few customers and probably 20 to 30 minutes, the staff told me they don’t have couple items, and asked me to do something inside the app. I don’t see an option to update the order in the app. And because the kids already waited for a while, I asked them if they can give the items they have or give replacement (in my impression giving replacement is a quite common practice in some restaurants). They would not do any of those. I did the reporting in the app and we went to the nearby McDonalds’s in stead. I setup an email alert for the post of the charge, and couple days later I started dispute once I received the email message. Did the email again to the merchant customer service department also. || Update (07-26-2023 pm) It looks like after I replay back to the Zendesk (they use Zendesk for customer service) email yesterday, the merchant did refund.

Later on I did a bit more google search, and it seems this (customer service issue) is a quite well know issue at the mentioned chain restaurant: google review, trip advisor, delish and reddit. So I would stay away from them for now.

Customer Service is a tough job in general. As my 13 year old told me from time to time, (probably from her own observations), human beings are messy, and she doesn’t want to be a people manager when she grows up. Me neither. My customer service experience is limited, but once I did spent 2 hours (maybe more) to fix an issue when I was working for the credit card company (loyalty and rewards program), and basically I was trying to issue about 13 cents (yes $0.13) worth of points to a bank customer, because that customer (an old gentleman) would call the customer service line every day to complain about the issue.

I do understand in the case of many fast food restaurants, they are short staffed, and sometimes customers are not that reasonable (I don’t believe customers are always right, btw). But on the other hand, many fast food restaurants don’t provide something (food or drink) that’s only available at their shop, and customers always have a choices. I think this can be expanded to things such as banks, internet services and grocery stores, etc. too.

Something came to my mind (modified from a fairly well known saying): one may never remember what food they eat, but they will always remember how they are being treated at the restaurant (or some other establishment). Another example is in the old days, I recall there were beggars who asked for food at my village, and we wouldn’t or should not say anything like: 嗟来食. And recently I heard sometimes the police would be crazy at the homeless person who ate at restaurant too. Last but not least, a topic on homeless customer (too big a topic and I would not expand it here).

PS: I recall many years ago when I was in the graduate school, one of the fellow graduate students an American friend told me in general Americans can wait about 5 minutes for the food at McDonald’s (he meant people could use more patience, which I agree). I think I probably can wait for 15 to 20 minutes at a fast food / fast casual place nowadays. || Also, yesterday I noticed the CFA is coming to Creve Coeur, they will take over the place at the former TGIF place at Tempo Drive and Olive Road. There will be another CFA place next to the U City Costco too.

PS 2: I came across this one, which is a bit extreme. Again really there is no need to fight over something like this. I think the best way is to go to another place, e.g., McDonald’s, Chick fil A, Raising Cane’s, or Culver’s, in this case 🙂

Categories
Life Tips Saint Louis

Applying for passport in 2023

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Both my daughters’ passports expired. They are kids and it looks like they will have to get new ones. My wife was thinking we just go to to the USPS office on Saturday (which is how we do in the good old days), and I promptly stopped her. Because from my own experience, a lot of things changed since pandemic. So I went to the USPS website for passport application including renewal.

One thing to keep in mind for the kids passport app: “Both parents/guardians must authorize the issuance of a child’s passport. The best way to give consent is for both parents/guardians to go with the child when applying.” I think I can understand the intention behind this: both parents being present. That is to prevent any dispute of child custody and to prevent one parent takes child away from another. In practice though, this may put more burden on any hourly working parent. Because they may have to leave work (unpaid) to get the passport application in. So there is that.

Also make sure both parents have valid IDs. The cost is $100 for the state department, and $50 for the post office. Since we applied for 2 kids, so the total is about $300. The state department portion has to be cash, debit (there is a small fee) or check (no fees for check), it cannot be credit card. So make sure bring a checkbook as needed. Btw, the clerk at USPS office is very friendly. She took my older daughter’s picture for a few times to make sure it’s good.

Btw, noticed the California Pizza Kitchen in Creve Coeur only offered takeout yesterday evening. We took our friends to the Bristol’s instead. A few days ago I noticed the Noodles and Co. has a lot of takeout customers too, I think mostly probably offered via web or mobile app. Very few people ate inside the restaurant.

PS: Covid pandemic definitely changed things around. I recall renewing the license plate online during the pandemic: “I saw long lines at the license office at Olivette yesterday too. I also just did a first-time online license plate renewal 2 days ago. It’s not the sharpest website but it works. I think we should try new things, especially considering the pandemic. (not everyone can renew online)”

Categories
Life Life Tips

American healthcare system II – 美国医疗系统之二

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Background

This is a continuation of my earlier post here, also just noticed I wrote about the US healthcare systems back in 2009: My Thoughts On US Healthcare Reform, My Thoughts On US Healthcare Reform: II, My Analogies On Healthcare Reform Protest, and Healthcare Reform: Some Good Things About US Hospitals.

Below was written over a few days. Personal story. Hopefully could be useful for people in the USA. As one of my previous colleagues said: the best is to avoid the hospital, but if we do go, it’s important to have the healthcare insurance 🙂

Today (7/01) I spent almost full day at the total access urgent care center (TAUC). I am not complaining but rather quite appreciative of how things came about. Yesterday (06/30/2023) we had a storm here and I did a dumb thing looking back: remember hindsight is always 20/20. I climbed up the ladder shortly after the storm with the intension of removing a few big tree branches on the roof. But things didn’t work as I hoped: I fell from the ladder, back down 1st and totally unexpected. Btw, here are some safety tips re: using ladders, and this one too. And I talked to my colleague about it later, who has medic and safety experience. Reflecting back the loose foundation (with mulches etc.) is also a contributing factor of the fall of ladder.

I didn’t feel too bad in the immediate aftermath, but things turned worse over the night as I found I had blood in my urine. It was about 9 or 10 pm and I didn’t think it’s a good idea to hang out at a hospital emergency room. So I tried to tough it out until 8 am this morning when the urgent care places opens. Note the main reason not going to the hospital emergency room (ER) is the ER usually tries to help the most in needed, those were seriously hurt etc., and I don’t think I am in that category.

But why I still spend almost a full day? I think the short answer is they have many patients that are in similar situation as me. Also my case is a bit more complicated because the doctor wants to do a CT scan on my neck as well as my abdomen with contrast. There is X-ray in the 1st TAUC place I went (Creve Coeur), but for CT scan I need to go to another TAUC place which is about 20 minutes drive (Chesterfield). Note this is my 2nd CT scan in the US. My first one was documented here. This time I got more scans than last time, I think I got both the regular scan as well as contrast scan. And I got the GE CT machine instead of the Siemens machine last time (year 2015).

I think TAUC started to pop up in last 10 years or so in the St. Louis area, with the booming of the urgent care in the US in general. They are not the 1st urgent care place in the area (Creve Coeur to be specific). That honor goes to St. Lukes. But St. Lukes has one disadvantages, they usually have two bills (one from the urgent care, another one from the provider). TAUC only has one consolidated bill. I think TAUC bill is also usually cheaper. For example, yesterday (7/01) I went to the Creve Coeur location 1st. I know from past experience, that I need to queue up online 1st. So I did. I waited at the Bread Co. at Old Olive road. At about 9 am, I saw I am at spot 3, and the restaurant is getting busy, so I went to the clinic.

Tests, lots of them

Typical treatment flow of urgent care goes like this: check in at front desk (may or may not fill out paperwork, or may need to make some payment from last visit, become more rare as more payments are done online nowadays). Go to the treatment room, and wait for the nurse. Nurse come in the take vitals. The provider (a doctor, nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant PD) will come in and ask questions. In my case I talked about what happened, and the aftermath. The doctor will order some tests. Actually I think my urine sample was taken before doctor even come in. And the doctor checked my back etc. and ordered both X-ray for back and legs, as well as CT Scan for the neck and the abdomen. While the X-ray technician started to work on my X-ray, I realized I have some minor pain on head too, so they (the doc and technician) did the head X-ray as well. After that they did some blood draw as well as the prep for IV for the contrast CT scan (basically leave a cap in my elbow area). I was ready to move on at about 12:15 pm at the Creve Coeur location. Thought about ordering McDonald’s but the text message came quickly asking me to go the the new TAUC location, and I realized I have something in my elbow too. So I started going there.

At the new location, I got the vitals again (before leave, the CC location did the vital for me again to make sure, and I realized the med tech/assistant is a Wash U student), and the IV which is just saline. I did the CT there, which is more complicated than last time, mainly because of the contrast scan. I closed my eyes during testing. I recall in my recent China (refer to my recent visit, this one and that one ) trip I realized they do way more CT than they are doing here, and some elders don’t like hold breath etc. and my mom didn’t like some of the tests either.

Waiting

After done the CT, as well as finishing up the IV (again saline). I was mostly in the waiting mode. I noticed in the new location, the TV is not on. I managed to plug in the power adapter for the receiver and was able to watch some TV. At one point I was restless, so I went to the car and get water as well as the portable battery to charge my iPhone, as the iPhone battery was low after I used it for a while. At about 3:30 pm or so, I got the call from the provider and he explained the things to me, and ready to let me go home. I got the call when I was in the restroom taking the call from my Apple Watch (I left the phone in the treatment room). I think I started to order McDonald’s via the app as well. The main thing at the time was to remove the cap on my elbow, and receive the discharge instructions. They did the vitals once again as well.

At about 4:15 pm, I was finally ready to go. And I went to the McDonald’s right away.

PS: on Saturday night when I 1st saw blood in my urine (which is probably the 1st time in my almost 52-year-old life), I was unsettled. Today (07-04-2023) I think about the life insurance I bought in the year 2012, which is a 15-year term life for $500,000 coverage. And today I realized 500k in the year 2012 is probably 250k in today’s dollars. Inflation is another tailwind for the insurance companies, in addition to the benefits of float (they didn’t have to pay out all the claims because people didn’t all die, or claimable accidents didn’t all happen at once). So basically they can invest the float (the income from premiums) money for a long time. Today I went to skating too, and I think I may not need to see a urologist that urgently for now.

PS 2: I found out my elbow has some residue pain from the IV, refer to this. It seems “Once the tube has been placed, the IV site shouldn’t hurt, sting, or burn. When the IV procedure is completed, some swelling and bruising at the site are common and not cause for concern. Most IV sites heal quickly in a few days.” I think I am starting to fear if I got this IV thing when I get older. And it seems to me the pain is there when I visited my mom recently in hospital in China. This seems like something comes with the modern medicine (note IV is used much more in China than there). Before my recent visit to urgent care, I recall I did this only once when I had fever (and maybe cough) a few years before pandemic. I recall the nurse put in some steroids to help me (make me more comfortable).

PS 3: regarding safety, I think we need to be careful and vigilant in many aspects: from driving (car incidents) to climbing ladder, or on the lake (reminds me one incident in which one of my old friends died). I understand sometimes things are not 100% under our control, such as this recent greyhound bus accident.

PS 4: 07-30-2023 I saw the insurance benefits explanation, it looks like I (only) need to pay $200. This seems a good deal to me 🙂

Categories
Life Life Tips Music

From the unfriendly comments on Liang Jingru aka Fish Leong

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I was not aware or conscious of the famous Chinese singer Liang Jingru’s age until a few days ago. Note 梁静茹 Sometimes the fans call her Fish Leong. I think Leong is the last name 梁 in her native Malaysia: her ancestor is from China’s Guangdong province and I assume they all speak Cantonese.

The reason for my interest to learn her age was this short video clip tweet; here is a longer and mostly complete version on YouTube and some controversy around it (Sina in Chinese 新浪中文). Btw, the song here is 分手快樂 (YouTube link here). I think you should be able to find out on other platforms easily as this is one of her most famous songs, and Leong is probably one of the best Chinese female singers in her generation.

The controversy is about her gaining some weight in the last few years. Note she is 45 years old. Last few years due to the pandemic, many people stayed at home more and didn’t pay attention to snacking habits, or exercise, and they gained weight that way. Perhaps, age is a big factor too. I recall about 12 years ago when I was 40, one day I hiked with my friend at the Powder Valley trail, and I saw myself in a t-shirt, and suddenly I realized I gained quite a bit of weight in the last few years. Aging and gain weight is quite common due to the change of metabolism and not adapting the food/drink intake at the same time.

I recall in the summer of 2016, when I encountered one of my college classmates after about 23 years, he couldn’t recognize me due to my weight gain and aging over the years.

At the same time though, there is absolutely no need to comment on other people’s weight, especially in a not-so-friendly way. Because we will all age, some age faster, some a bit slower. Weight is a much more personal thing. Some people will gain weight more easily, and vice versa. It’s important to be vigilant because weight gain in a short period of time could mean something health-wise, and we know health is one of the most important things.

There is another subtle meaning that comes with this controversy: that is the perception of aged women are less worthy. Interestingly, Michelle Yeoh, who is also a Malaysia-born Chinese, recently talked about it. I would talk about “aging gracefully” in another post, as this is another big topic.

PS: not to 蹭热度 (cloud chasing) I felt this youtube video explained a similar situation regarding “what can be said in a joke” or whether something is “pushing the envelop” too far. Yes I had to admit that I agree with the “hot lady” there (did I push the envelop too far here? I will remove the hot if most ladies think so 🙂

PS 2: not about sexism (guys, never comment on ladies / girls appearance, vice versa for girls). It’s about ageism. I understand in Chinese there is this saying 徐娘半老 – not a complements I believe. Until recently to be precise it was during my recent China trip, in the Shanghai subway I realized I am probably the older part of the passengers in the train. So God forbid, if somethings happens in the train, I should lead, or give the opportunity of life to other younger folks 🙂 Last but not least, I created a YT playlist for her live performances in last few years. Please note to singing a few hours non-step or with little stops are not easy. Not everything is Taylor Swift.

Categories
401k and Personal Finance DIY gadgets Life Tips Technology

Switching from Charter Spectrum to AT&T broadband

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I thought about this for a while. The last time I planned to switch, was a few years ago, at our previous home (condo), for some reason the AT&T technician could not find a port for the broadband, per my wife (I was likely working at the credit card company at the time). And the technician gave up. I vaguely recall the reason for the switch was to reduce the monthly bill. Internet providers usually gave a good introductory price for one year, before jacking up the prices. And in the case of Charter, they jack up prices almost every year. Once I called them, and said I wanted to switch, and then they lowered the price by $10 a month. Basically switching providers or phone calls are two ways I know to lower the broadband bill.

I didn’t think of switching during the move – partially due to the unpleasant experience I had with $T (AT&T, T is their stock ticker symbol). Partially because Charter/Spectrum gave a good intro price for a year for new customers (here new as a new address, or a new account). I recall it took me some effort to figure out which cable to plug into my cable modem (the broadband modern for Charter), set up the Wifi router, and my IP phone (iTalkBB, refer to this old blog post here, time flies. Probably time to cancel iTalkBB now.) and I didn’t bother to switch to AT&T until very recently. I did recall about 2 summers ago, we had a power outage, and Charter Internet came back as soon as the power is back (both the cable modem and wifi router needed electricity). But the communication lines were damaged especially the AT&T cables, if my memory is correct, and it seems today during my AT&T install, another outside technician needs to come to the outside terminal and do some work – likely a fallout from 2 years ago. Again back to the topic.

Recently I had some intermittent issues with the Charter/Spectrum internet so I decided to switch. The intermittent/reliability issue is both from my observation and from informal surveys among friends (thank you friends 🙂

I placed the installation order last week, and a technician came today. I did some surveys before today. So I pointed out the outside and inside cables. Installation took a few hours. The setup is relatively straightforward, I mean the embedded Wifi router. It’s done via an app called Smart Home Manager. The technician is friendly and helpful too. In addition to pointing out the app, as well as showing me how to get to it, he told me to switch off Charter shortly to avoid a new monthly bill.

I did a speed test just now, it seems Charter still has a faster download speed, but the upload speed is comparable. I will update this post as time goes on.

PS: I recall The Sound of dial-up Internet both in China and in the US. It’s a bit funny when I was applying for US graduate schools in the fall of 1996, I borrowed the email and computer access card from my friend in Fudan U. The professor in Rolla thought I was a graduate student in Fudan: which probably helped my application a bit as they are more prestigious than my graduate school 🙂 I still remember those days when I wrote emails on a terminal of a UNIX machine. Copy, paste, and save information or write information to a disk seems like a century ago, in today’s smartphone, and ubiquitous Internet world. Also, just came across this post back in 2014 when I had to do some magic or hack to make the iPad work with Wifi at home.

PS2: the monthly cost, was $80 per month for Charter, vs $50 a month for AT&T. AT&T has a slightly slower download speed, from the speed test. Also, some offers one may be able to use. Rakuten (eBates): I used it and I saw $112.50 cash in my account (this will cover the $99 installation cost, btw). Some Chase credit cards may offer cash back for AT&T fiber (I think they all broadband will likely work): I plan to use my Amazon Chase card as it has a $50 offer. Last but not least, I had a twitter poll for this.

Update 01-28-2024: I used offer from Amex Gold too. Also it seems Dosh App gave me cash back on the top of the Amex offer. Now we are talking about double dipping 🙂 Last but not least, I realized that I used the link at ebates (now rakuten) and I received $112.50 cash back from them as well (on 08-15-2023). So in summary, at least for now, the AT&T service (about $55 a month) is mostly free for me/my family at this time. I do expect to use fewer offer from now on. And I don’t plan to switch back to Charter soon as their service seems still spotty from time to time.

Categories
gadgets Life Life Tips Software development

I decided to spend some money on office chair

Reading Time: 4 minutes

(11-06-2023) Design with Reach has some deals for the Herman Miller chairs. The website popup says 20% off (not sure if it can be stacked on the existing 25% off offer).

(09-25-2023) And now I realized I had an issue with the jeans. Googled it and it seems people were talking about it on Reddit. For now I am just going to use a seat cushion. Figured a seat cushion is probably cheaper than a pair of jeans (I have story for the jeans price too 🙂

(07-11-2023) Came across this one – again I am for #reuse #recycle and #reduce.

(06-19-2023) I changed 3 wheels out of 5, all out of necessity 🙂 || Separately, just came across this how Herman Miller tests its chair.

(06-11-2023) One of the wheels broke. I bought a replacement wheel set from Amazon and replaced it in one minute (btw, later on, I found the price is cheaper on eBay. Note this is not unusual, I mean the price difference). I saw a few choices for the wheels. and decided to go with the more expensive “Amazon’s Choice”. Here is a very short YouTube video explaining how to take out the old wheel and put in the new one. I also found there is a headrest for the Aeron chair (FB, used, $98 + $9 shipping); and it’s available on Amazon as well ($152). || Some day I will work a separate post on buying/owing the Herman Miller Aeron chair.

(Update 06-05-2023) I bought a used Herman Miller Aeron classic from an office that’s closed down, near where I live. I feel good about it so far. The other day I just realized this thing is heavy, about 48 pounds per Amazon. Btw, I found this PDF adjustment guide from the Herman Miller website too.

(Original 05-2023) The high-end office chair is not cheap, it costs more than $1,000. Let’s say a chair of $1,350 (note Haworth Fern is in that range), typical workers work 2,000 hours a year. Let’s say a typical worker sits 60% of the time, 1,200 hours sitting on a $1,350 chair. A dollar an-hour chair sitting cost. The chair lasts at least 10 years though. So it’s more like 10 cents an hour chair sitting cost.

Why is a chair important for office workers?

Weight problems, back problems, and other ergonomic chairs may help out. As explained by this YouTube video by Ahnestly (Dan Ahn) here. I don’t want to go much into detail here. I think for normal office workers (people who sit before the computer every day for a while), a good chair, a good posture, and even keyboarding, mouse/trackpad clicking/tapping are all important. Remember, your personal health is your responsibility. And I think standing desks could be a fad; see this Harvard Medical School article for reference. Wearing the Apple Watch (or other equivalent watches, that remind people to stand up and stretch a bit after sitting for a while), and standing up once in a while is the way to go.

Where to buy?

I see 2 (or 3) choices:

  1. Buy new (from the manufacturers or from retailers), usually via the website (e-commerce, such as Steelcase Leap at the manufacturer’s website, Steelcase Leap chair at Amazon, note the Amazon link here is my Amazon Associate link) nowadays. With today’s logistics, they could be shipped from the warehouse quickly, via UPS, FedEx or Amazon. The customer just needs to open the box and start to use it.
  2. Buy preowned. There are also “like new” such as this 3-month-old Haworth Fern asking for $900 (picture shown below), “refurbished” sometimes with warranty and buy used still in good condition. This is somewhat like buying a used car, we need to pay a bit more attention here. It seems nowadays CraigsList (sample search Steelcase chair on local CraigsList) and Facebook marketplace (sample search on FB for Herman Miller Aeron) are two popular places to look. || I think on coming Monday 05-22-2023 I am going to proceed with/check out this one on FB marketplace that’s very close to my home. Note like buying used cars, the prices for used office chairs vary, and again Ahnestly (Dan Ahn) explained it very well in one of his YT videos too: this one is specifically for Herman Miller Aeron (and I tried to follow his instructions when I checked out the chair). Btw, I also created a YouTube watchList for office chairs.

If one likes to have neck support (headrest)

From memory, it seems Steelcase Leap V2 (Amazon*; Steelcase) is a popular chair with headrest option.

The business of office furniture makers

It seems the manufacturers (mainly Haworth, Herman Miller, and Steelcase) do not have a business model like the iPhone. Typically people upgrade iPhones every 2, 3, or 4 years. Office chairs last more than 10 years.

Also, some knockoff products (e.g., this one on local Craigslist) may have an impact on the brand names (Haworth, Herman Miller, and Steelcase). What exactly is “equal to or better than Herman Miller Aeron Chair”, anyway? From the picture, the shape looks like Herman Miller Aeron Chair (picture shown below). It seems this person is doing it (selling used chairs) as a business.

It’s more a consumer win/manufacturer “did okay or lose a bit” kind of situation.

Danger zone

I have had some brief interactions with two manufacturers. In Spring Festival 2009, I visited Haworth for a business trip when I was working for Autodesk. Then recently I started looking into Steelcase stock ($SCS). I heard the Steelcase for 1st time probably back in 2009 when I asked Haworth folks who are the competitors. The two companies are close by, Haworth is in Holland MI, and Steelcase is HQ’ed at Grand Rapids, MI. When I visited Holland, the airplane is from STL to Grand Rapids (I recall it was an old MD DC airplane).

Investor Day presentation (webcast; PDF) for Steelcase 05-04-2023

Quick thoughts after doing office chair research

For Steelcase, a unique problem is its vast used inventory in the market, this is evident on the FB Marketplace and on CraigsList. It will take some time to digest those inventories that were a result of the pandemic (and work from home).

*Note the Amazon link is my Amazon Associates link. Your price will be the same, but I may earn a small commission if you click through the link and buy.

Categories
DIY gadgets Life Tips

DIY via Amazon and YouTube

Reading Time: 4 minutes

I am trying to fix small things myself these days, this is probably true for many other people too.

Replace the cell battery for the car keys

For example, recently I found out the new Car key (new to me anyway, it’s a used 2020 Toyota Camry key, so a few years old in reality), may have some issues, as sometimes although I put it in my pocket or in the car seat, the dashboard will say something like “key not found“. Note this is an electronic key now, basically as long as I have the key in my pocket or nearby, it should do its thing: meaning, I can open the front doors, and when I step on the break, and push the ignition button, the car should start. And if I don’t step on the break and just push the ignition button, the accessories should start (audio, etc). When the battery is low, some of those functions will stop working too. For example, on Mother’s Day evening, it started to rain, in the parking lot, I tried to open the car door via remote, but no luck at first. I tried to open the trunk first, then I was able to open the 1st front door. After I came home, I googled and followed this YouTube video to replace the battery in the remote. For the battery itself, I have some in stock, Amazon Basics 10-Pack CR2032 Lithium Coin Cell Battery, 3 Volt, Long Lasting Power, Mercury-Free*. Before this, I did similar replacements myself for my 2012 Camry and Sienna remote in the past too. The main difference is for newer car keys, we need to use them to start the car indirectly. But It’s done via pressing the button, in other words, if the remote is truly out of battery, we may not be able to start the car (which is a bit like a strand situation, and it’s ideal – update 11-20-2024, I found on YT there is a manual way to do this too).

Headlight in Toyota Sienna

PHILIPS – 12362B2 H11 Standard Halogen Replacement Headlight Bulb, 2 Pack || Youtube: How to change #Headlight #bulbs in #Toyota #Sienna (btw, always keep your car in top condition that you can afford, this includes the battery, tires and other misc things) || (Update 11-20-2024) I may need to rewrite this part as it’s on Twitter/X, and I no longer actively update on X. Also, the search functionality on X is horrendous.

MacBook Pro right arrow key

Recently I also bought a MacBook right arrow key* and my 13 year old daughter was able to follow along a YouTube video and replace it. She broke the original key first though. She was bored.

Garage Door sensor

Last year or so, I was able to buy the Genie GSTB-R STB-BL Replacement Safety Beams, Black, 2 Pack, Black, one size (GSTB-R)*, and replaced one broken safety beam. I think I got idea from the YouTube as well. This is relatively straightforward for me. I did hire a professional garage door person install the system for me originally, as it was above my head and hands.

GE Refrigerator Ice Maker not working

Ongoing (05-18-2023): the issue was something like this as described in this GE article. I think I am going to replace the ice maker on the fridge. Ordered the aftermarket part* from amazon just now, $55 before tax, it got high ratings and good reviews at Amazon. And here is the YouTube video by “DIY Repairs Now“. I watched it a few times, and I bought the replacement part using the author’s Amazon Associates (update 02-24-2024, all links to normal links now, Amazon invalided my Associates account because I didn’t bring in enough leads in a given duration. They are pretty ruthless, if I may) link as well. The author posted the OEM part in the description for the video too. I compared the price, delivery date and the reviews, and decided to go with the cheaper aftermarket part.

This is a GE 25.6 cu ft refrigerator made in 2007 (model number – PSS26MSWASS). The replacement (a Samsung 27.4 cu ft side by side) starts at about $1,149 at Costco. (Update 05-20-2023) I replaced the old ice maker with the new after market one that I bought from Amazon, and it worked (my wife is happy). The most difficult part is trying to unplug and plug in the electronic cable. I got some ideas from the YouTube video above, at about 1 min 10 seconds (unplug, use a tool, use hand solely was really hard) and 4 minutes 40 seconds mark (plug in). I realized those cables’ ends (6 pins, some are round, some are semi rounds) are not identical, which means we can only plugin via proper directions. Other useful resources: REFRIGERATOR – ICEMAKER DOES NOT FILL WITH WATER (GE again). Please note, I unplugged the electricity during the repair. I did not turn off water as I didn’t know how to do it for the refrigerator.

Note I do have one remaining task, that is to fix the ice dispenser. For that I found a video here: Refrigerator Won’t Dispense Ice – Top 6 Reasons & Fixes – Kenmore, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, GE & more. This is not as straightforward as I need to troubleshoot and determine which part is broken.

*The Amazon links are my own Amazon Associates links. I may earn a small fee but your price at Amazon should be the same regardless you use this link or go directly to Amazon.

(Update 11-26-2023) It seems the GE fridge is giving up today (it gave up probably 2 or 3 days ago, but we realized it today). And we decided to get a new one.

Ironically, I recall Amazon the company has its humble beginning including makes its own desk “How to build your own Amazon door desk“; From Scrappy DIY Desk to Amazon Icon | Amazon News – YouTube.

(Update 02-24-2024) How to replace the battery on a Dyson D8 (YouTube Video). New battery bought on Last purchased Jun 14, 2020 (Amazon). And on Nov 28, 2023 again Amazon. I just put this on thanks to the YT video. I don’t recall last time (around June 2020) how I replaced it, which video I watched etc.

Categories
Fun Life Life Tips

Getting older

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Not my PR, but hey I finished the race without hurting myself (I haven’t done much running last few years)

(Update 10-28-2023) Senior moment of yesterday: I was trying to find my Sienna minivan key, via the Tile app. I left it in the minivan after I filling the air for the tires. The reason I left key there was earlier I needed the accessories ON to power the portal air pump. So I was using the find feature in the iPhone Tile App, and only got the “moderate” signal, after probably 7, or 8 minutes, I realized I left the key in the car. For some reason I didn’t hear the beep, probably the door to garage has good sound insulation.

(Update 10-20-2023) Something I realized recently. A solar guy came by and asked if I was interested in installing the solar panel on the roof top. And on the 2nd conversation (which is a bit more serious) he mentioned the investment will pay off the future electric/utility bill for next 20 or 30 years, which may be $30,000 or 40,000 over the span of that time duration, due to inflation, rate increase, etc. || Yesterday and today I was thinking: will I live for another 20 or 30 years? Note this is not the main factor I am thinking about the solar panel: the main factor I see right now is we have a tree in the front yard, which blocks quite a bit sunshine in the morning; and in the afternoon, our neighbor’s tree will do the similar 🙂 I actually read up and did some research, the total cost (without any tax credit consideration etc.) is about $18,000 in Missouri. I am still not sure about the overall the worthiness of the solar panel as well as Net Metering with the electricity utility co.

Aging is one reason I restarted selling on eBay this year. I am on a couple “buy nothing, sell nothing” “give away stuff” group (FB, WeChat) as well. The main goal is make sure the house is not overly cluttered (garage included). And be conscious of buying new things – see if I can sell or give away a thing when buy a new thing. And so on.

Also noticed 17 years ago I wrote on similar topic: Senior Moment || At least the last problem is a muted issue now: I rarely bring wallet with me nowadays, bring my phone with driver license and 2 CC instead. We live in the post iPhone world, everyone 🙂

(Original written in April 2023, updated in early Oct 2023)

Aging

Big 5 (people usually said big 5 for 50). I recall years ago my AutoDesk colleague was nervous about it. Now I am qualified for senior Olympics at the J, and I suddenly realized that I am a senior in the Shanghai subway 🚇 a few months ago.

Facing death: need to think about all the time. Recall seeing an exhibit on this topic at the Fields Museum Chicago over the summer.

Exercise and Food

Workout or exercise to be fit, hopefully less a burden for my wife and kids when I get older.

七成饱 don’t gullet, and don’t eat late ⏰ e.g., after 8 pm. This is further confirmed after I talked to my kid’s violin teacher (he is 65) and he emphasized his veggie diet as we as excises.

Limit alcohol and caffeine intake too.

Sleep 💤 issue

Listen to the radio 📻 via iPod 📱 nano when I could not fall asleep. Put iPhone and computer outside bedroom. Try to get up when I am awake, go to the J instead of watching iPhone while lying on bed 🛌

More Senior Moment

Above mostly was written in April during / after my China trip, my today 10-03-2023 “senior moment” – I parked my white Camry outside the Korean grocery store near home, I did shopping and came out to look for my silver Sienna minivan, and obviously it’s not there. Sienna is my car and Camry is my wife’s. I took Camry because it’s close by and short trip. It took me a while to resize my minivan was not stolen and I came with Camry 😂

Categories
401k and Personal Finance Edu-and-Ladue-School Life Life Tips Saint Louis

How to buy a single family house in the Ladue School District – our own experiences

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“No short cut; and I wish I could get those sleepless night back but I do understand no pain no gain in life sometimes.” -MXU April 2023

Everyone knows the prices for single-family houses (SFHs) in the US went up since the pandemic, and this is applicable to the SFHs in the Ladue School District (LSD) too. It may go up more than the national average. Luckily for us, we bought our starter home, a nice little ranch house, about 9 months before the pandemic shut down in March 2020, and we were grateful that we have the room to spread out, both for virtual school and our Work From Home (WFH) jobs. It’s not perfect, but it put us in a better position than the 2 bedroom condo we had earlier.

I lived in the LSD since the year 2005: I bought a condo across the street from the Schnucks/Monsanto in April 2005, at a price which is the market top at the time. Note that condo prices topped before the actual housing/financial crisis in 2007/2008. At the time I have basically two choices, and I think I still made the right choice looking back. The other choice was a 1st-floor condo near Creve Coeur Mills Road and Olive Road (Parkway School District, PSD): the condo was facing north which is not the best direction in terms of facing (it will be cold in winter and hot in summer). Plus the LSD is considered a notch above PSD (this is probably subjective opinion).

Since our 2nd daughter was born in the Summer of 2014, our 2 bedroom condo basically needs one more room, not in a hurry but in a time ticker bomb – as we believe eventually our younger daughter needs her own room. We didn’t put her in a separate room when she was an infant (same for our old daughter). When we hired a nanny when Sophia was a newborn, note it was customary to have some external helper in Chinese culture when there is a newborn in a family, the nanny had to sleep in the living room. My wife, myself, and Sophia were in one bedroom, Serenity the big sister took the other bedroom.

Fast forward a few years, I changed jobs in June 2015 and started working for the credit card co., hoping to make a few more bucks for the new house down payment. I recall probably in the summer of 2017 I joked with a few friends that the SFH is out of reach. Also, I don’t miss the sleep deprived nights and on calls while I worked for the credit card co: it’s basically a “sweatshop” that pays better than a normal sweatshop 🙁

In the Summer of 2018, we almost bought an SFH (Zillow link), and my wife had a second thoughts after realizing the house didn’t have a dishwasher. So we backed out after inspection while it was still in the cooling period. I really liked the backyard, but over the years I learned to listen to my wife. East or west, listening to the boss is the most important 🙂

Fast forward one more year, Sophia is also about to start attending Kindergarten at Spoede Elementary, and we were looking at houses more seriously: we even got a buyer agent who is grew up in/familiar with the area, and has a good supporting team. For us, Luckily everything worked out for our current house in June 2019. We saw the house listed, and my wife liked it, we did not really negotiate the price – we paid the asking price. Another small break for us is we had built a bit more savings in one year for down payment etc, since the summer of 2018. Now I think about it, we made decision pretty quick, I did not even do my neighborhood check: basically come at one morning, and come at one afternoon to make sure the neighbors are nice 🙂

I understand with the Pandemic and the SFHs price went up a lot. But we have zero control over things such as the pandemic, the economy, interest rates, mortgage rates, and so on. We do have control over ourselves, in terms of saving money, and being proactive. I heard a friend bought the house directly from a lady by knocking on the door, I have not confirmed but seems like a variable approach to me, as long as he/she asked it nicely. In another case, I heard friends did the SFH transaction privately. Both were done before pandemic, and the houses are not brand new. In recent years I did see more new houses come to market, after the investor buy/tear down/build much bigger 2 stories home etc. Another trend is the developers’ activities, such as I wrote it here earlier. Overall though, the supply is not catching up with the demand. One reason is sometimes the seller can afford to hold on to it, e.g., this century old house at the entrance of our neighborhood. I did a little research on the St. Louis county real estate website, and found out the owner likely lives in a mansion in Florida. The reason for my research was: I was thinking about investment property, and this one is close to where we live, and I walk by that house every day.

Last but not least, I want to add merely complaining (or self-pity) is not useful, and here is Charlie Munger’s quick talk on the topic.

Categories
China Life Tips

China Trip Spring 2023 – observations and thoughts

Reading Time: 6 minutes

At the Detriot airport #DTW Delta Airlines international departing gates, I waited for about 12 hours before boarding the PVG bounding flight. I walked inside the terminal from one end to the other a couple of times. I passed by the London bounded gate, and compared to the PVG bounded flight, I can sense the different atmosphere, on a few different levels. I had to admit I like the London bounded gate atmosphere better, it’s more festive. In contrast, the PVG-bounded flight has more stress, mostly related to the paperwork for the Covid PCR test. We know it’s not rock science per see, but because of recent memory, and I think in one incident Delta airline has to turn around the airplane mid-air (over the pacific), all this added to stress during travel. For practical purposes, the “Mandatory paperwork to enter China” in my earlier blog post should work for everyone.

Aging Parents

My main mission for this trip is to see my parents. When I was new to the US, a professor at Rolla complimented on the “respect elders” culture in China. To be more specific, it’s “Filial Piety“: Filial piety is a Confucian concept derived from Chinese culture, which advocates a set of moral norms, values, and practices of respect and caring for one’s parents. According to the dual-factor model of filial piety, reciprocal and authoritarian filial piety are two dimensions of filial piety. I heard this English word from a Chinese professor (Liu Ming) in 2020, the Chinese word for it is 孝顺. Along those lines, there is this line: 父母在，不远游，游必有方: 父母在世，不出远门，如果要出远门，必须告知自己所去的地方。 “方”指”一定的去处、方向，更重要的是指“方法”。 意思是父母身体健康时外出，要让父母知道你的去处是安全的。 如果父母的身体需要照顾，而自己又需要外出就“必须”安排好照顾好父母的“方法”，以尽孝道，即游“必”有“方”。What does that mean? Basically it says one doesn’t travel far if one has parents (to take care of). And if one has to travel, he/she must tell where he/she is going, make sure the place he/she is traveling to is safe. And last but not least, if the parents (are old/sick and) need care, he/she must make arrangement regarding take care of the parents.

Many years ago, my father was not happy that I decided to come to the US for graduate school. He used his own example of not taking he Gao’kao 高考 (China’s college entrance exam) when he was high school senior, because he wanted to take care of this parents, at home. They were about 40 years apart. And I think in those days the average life span for Chinese people may be 70 years old. But I didn’t listen and I came to the US, did graduate school, started working and have my own family here.

In recent years I tried to see my parents about once every two years, but the routine was interrupted by the pandemic and the control measures. Thus I didn’t see my parents in person for over 3 years, and as the border opened in Jan 8, and no more quarantine measures. I took the bait and booked the air ticket on Jan 29. The pandemic in past 3 years was not kind to my parents, and I can see they are aging. My mom who was outgoing, and likes to interact with her friend in Lao’nian Da Xue 老年大学 (elders’ university), as well as serve in the community, before pandemic. This social content of her daily life was cut, and I can see it had impact on her. My father who is more introvert, doesn’t have a healthy daily routine. I assume he looked at computer and phone for quite some time everyday, or watching TV. And he complains about his son going to America, consistently before my mom. I don’t think mom likes to hear that, plus I don’t know whether I should say it’s a blessing or a curse, but my mom lost some hearings in last few years as well. Her health was not the greatest before pandemic, and it got worse during pandemic. She was hospitalized a few times in last 12 month or so. She was happy to see me back for a week, after the 3+ years gap. And we are planning to get her and my dad some more help in their daily lives.

I visited my in-laws too: they are in the same province. They live in a senior living apartment, and they can pretty much sustain on their own so far, including cooking etc. But they can buy food if they don’t want to cook, and the medical staff is nearby if medical care is needed. So their living condition eased our worry to some extent.

Technology

I have a twitter thread related to this. The technology in China has improved tremendously in last 20 years. One can see it from the high speed rail (gao’tie 高铁 🚄）, the popularity of EVs: there are many brands in addition to the well known ones such as BYD and Tesla. Mobile apps including 12306 (train ticket app), Alipay, WeChat (pay), and Gao’de Map are both popular and helpful for the most part. I am sharing some of the hands on experience below. Please note some of the issues around high speed rail as well (see this tweet).

Facial recognization

Boarding DL 389 (DTW to PVG), they scan the face instead of scan the boarding pass. Again one Chinese gentleman was wondering how they do that. Facial recognization is widely used actually, in the mobile apps too, in addition to the Apple build in FaceID. I saw the bank apps and Shanghai health QR code mini program (随申码小程序）are using the homegrown facial recognization technology. (Update 04-16-2023) Interestingly enough, today when I was trying to log into IRS website and get some tax for myself, and I found out the scanning of driver license and my face is also used. Basically what I did here is very similar to some of the mobile apps used in China. So we have some sort of technology convergence here. Similar for robots below. For example, today I saw the Schnucks robot “tally” charing by itself, which is similar to the food delivery robots in China hotel.

Robots

I saw robots for food delivery in hotels (Shanghai Hongqiao, and Ningbo Beilun), and robots for cleaning at Hongqiao hub (underground leve).

Out of gate, I went to the Yong’he Da Wang （永和大王）, the popular Taiwanese place, and tried to use WeChat pay. It failed because I did not update my ID’s issuance date and expiration date. I was able to update later on.

On the other hand though, I do recognize a lot of practice or technology are learned from the west. For example, when the nurse give new medicine and in-fusion, they would ask the patients name, DoB, the only thing I didn’t hear is the last 4 of the social.

12306 App (Apple, Google Play): again this is the train ticket app. So upon arrival at the Hongqiao hub (from PVG), I decided to buy the train ticket, at the ticket counter. Note the human service counter is rare nowadays, a lot of purchase are done via app, website and the kiosk. So I bought the ticket, paid the cash, got the change, and got an idea of the approx. departing time. No paper ticket. The ID is the ticket (self scan the ID at the train station for checkin). Later I realized I don’t even know the train number. So I downloaded the app (I used it before), logged in, and saw my e-ticket there 🙂 Btw, noticed the score (rating) for the app are 3.0 (out of 5.0) at Apple iOS App store, and 3.4 at Google Play store. Not bad for a large app like this.

At Beilun KFC, the cashier suggested I use the app to order. I gave her my phone, tried to download the app, it went to the US App store 🙂 So eventually they manually process for me every morning, and I pay via the WeChat pay.

Human factor

Again I don’t like the cigarette smoking, which is still popular in China: from the platform on Gao’tie (inside Gao’tie train is not allowed; regular train has a designated smoking place), to the street, and other indoor places (which in my opinion, it’s quite nasty).

Yield to pedestrians at cross walk. Is crosswalk another thing China learned from the west? I can see the cars (the drivers) in Shanghai did a much better job yields to pedestrians, say compared to Ningbo Beilun (2nd or 3rd tier city).

Drivers

I like to chat with people, especially open-minded people.

网约车司机的故事：郑州来的女生，去年十月因郑州疫情来上海(trying to make a living, as Zhengzhou was shutdown and she could not drive for a living). I notice that her mobile phone has a privacy guard screen 手机有防偷窥保护屏. She asked if there are Alipay and WeChat pay in the US, and I said they are rare. 她问我美国有没有支付宝，微信支付，我说没有或较少。She also asked the things that corresponding to Alipay and WeChat pay, I said credit card and Apple Pay 相应的应该是信用卡和apple pay。

Back to STL, the Lyft driver is an immigrant from Hondulas || 圣村：31/2岁左右洪都拉斯🇭🇳来的小伙，感觉搞硬件比搞软件牛，因为他说是个人都可以学着学程序，而他现在还不认识一个可以把电脑组装起来的人：我说best buy 的geek squad, 和micro center 应该有人会装。他同时感觉中国比美国牛。我们讲到2001年9月11日，他讲到他大概十岁左右，他妈妈送他到私立学校有美国老师教英文。那天有人告诉美国老师纽约世贸中心被炸的事，老师当场痛哭。我告诉他那天早上我在电视上看到世贸中心有幢楼在冒烟，直升机🚁在傍边转，后来发生的事情对美国产生深远的影响。