A good article from Yahoo Finance. This may not directly be applicable to the restaurants in China, but I think we can all learn something from here.
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How to treat a waiter
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Category: Saint Louis
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Zillow
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My friend mentioned this real estate estimate web site to me. We were very excited to see the property value of our St. Louis homes went up sharply in the past month, according to the web site. While we are mature enough to know this is not 100% accurate, it’s good news nonetheless.
Here is a review article from WSJ about zillow. I think it’s a useful tool for individuals who are in the real estate market.
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Trader Joe’s
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Trader Joe’s is a small grocery store which provides “high quality foods and beverages at honest low prices”. The quoted word is taken from its paper shopping bag (unlike Aldi, its bag is free). Recently Trader Joe’s is growing very fast and I remember reading a magazine article talking about business model and growth.
Seeing is believing. A few days ago, after dinner, I stopped by its newly opened store in Creve Couer. The store is right across street from Dierbergs, one of the largest and oldest grocery stores in St. Louis area. Except I had minor problem locating its entrance, I was very pleased with my shopping experience. There are varities of food, from cheese, bread, fruits, vegetable, meats, to beverages, and beers. The price is close to Schnucks’ (another grocery store in the area, considered as middle range), i.e., it’s cheaper than Diebergs. But the quality is not discounted. Not to mention the service. I like the way they ring the bell (the real bell), the corner tasting table (free coffee, cookies, etc.), and the friendliess of cashier. It’ like a neighbourhood store, as oppose to the big chain store like Wal-mart or Sam’s club. I noticed there are a few neighbourhood drug stores on the Olive street, despite WalGreen’s store ubiquitous apprearnce. I guess the mom-pop stores still have customers and business, otherwise how can they keep open.
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Ruth’s Chris Steak House
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Ruth’s Chris Steak House is opening a store in St. Louis (Clayton) on March 20. I happened to see the store sign today when I drove by. While I am not a big fan of steak, I got to know the restaurant because I bought/sold its stock last year. It’s a premium steak house, and I like its business growth prospect. I think I will visit it and taste its famous steak too.
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Weather etc.
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Missouri, the show me state where I live, had a pretty wild weather last weekend. We had Tornato (twister) both on Saturday and Sunday. I stayed whole day at home on Sunday, and I never saw so many Tornato warnings on the TV. On Sunday night the weather guy basically told the viewer to stay alert and turn on the TV once a while during sleep. Luckily St. Louis was not hit directly.
This web site also had some problems this afternoon. I believe this was just a technical glitch. Just like weather, computer sometimes is unpredictable. Fortunately this is not a mission critical web site and the glitch won’t cause major damages.
By the way, the weather is pretty nice now after those storms. I sawthe full moon very clearly on the sky tonight.
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Home equilty loan and line of credit
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It took me a year to figure out the difference between these two. Unfortunately one year ago when I bought my condo, I used the latter one, which means when Fed raises the rate, my rate goes up too.
Today I found the following definition at GMAC mortgage (click on Home Equity).
Home Equity Loan
For immediate cash, consider our fixed-rate home equity loan. You’ll have the security of knowing the interest rate and payment stays fixed throughout the loan term.
Home Equity Line
For a revolving line of credit you can access when you need it, consider our home equity line. There’s no obligation to use it, and you won’t pay interest until you do.
I am not sure if I would qualify the home equity loan one year ago. It appears to me the lenders and mortgage brokers try to blur the lines between those two things (to their own interest).
I know it’s a bit late, but it’s better “late to know” than “being ignorant all the time”, right?
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Exercises
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My work is not easy these days. I have to solve some problems and the deadline is approaching quickly. I feel sitting before the computer all the day (don’t we all do that?) is not helpful for my health. So I tried to find some time for exercises after I came back from China.
I played basketball and tennis last week. This week one day when I got off work, I suddenly got the idea of playing golf. There is a drive range close to my work place so I went there and took some shots. While all these are good I found I could fit exercise into my daily routine. In the morning I walk to the St. Louis Bread Co. , get the bagel and walk back to my home. It’s about 15 minutes walk. In the evening I walk to the Schucks, the grocery store. I think I have been spoiled because I have a car for too long. Now that I walked to the Metro stations in Shanghai every morning, I decided to do similar things in the States. Personally I think it’s a better life style. And I am very fortunate because I live close to those places.
In St. Louis there are not many such places. Clayton, the county seat and business center, is pedestrian friendly. Creve Coeur, the city where I live, is also planning to build up a downtown. The developers are building new condos there (the price starting from 400 K). Imagine you can walk to movie theater, shopping center, office, fittness place, coffee shop, restaurant,…how wonderful life will be. Not to mention the saving of gas bill and the time spent on traffic.
OK, I am dreaming again.
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I am back
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To the river city after 20 hours travel. I fell into sleep before the small airplane (RJ-85) landed in St. Louis, at 3:15 PM local time. There was some delay in Shanghai airport but things worked out OK because the flight NW20 from Tokyo to Minneapolis was waiting for us.
It’s 16 degree F (about -10 C) here in St. Louis. I could feel the chill when I walked from my car to Schnuck grocery store. I am going to cook my favorite “Cauliflower with pork” and “Tomato egg soup”. Back to the reality of living in St. Louis.
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Differences
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I am not going to do a comparison between Shanghai and St. Louis here. I don’t think it’s fair to compare these two great cities. Here I’m going to put down a few observations I made in past few days.
Hospital
I went to see doctor today for my sleep problem. I went to Shanghai No. 6 hospital. Get access to a doctor in China is easier than in the States, as long as you have the money or insurance. I believe many danwei in China offers some sort of insurance. On the other hand, seeing a doctor in the US is not that easy, if you are not in the emergency situation. Normally one would make appointment with the doctor’s office well in advance. Another difference is in China’s hospital the patient also pick up the medcine; while in the US he/she need to go to Walgreen or CVS to pick up the drugs. From my personal experience, I like the easy access to the doctor in China, but I also like the personal attention/time US doctor give to one patient. Because in US a doctor see fewer patients per day.
Firework
This one caught me off guard initially. I arrived at Shanghai on New Year’s eve. And I went to the bars at Heng Shan Rd at 11 PM. The firework is on. It’s the crackers. I remember in Shanghai the goverment used to forbid the firework inside the city limit (inside Zhong Shan Lu Circle). Not any more. Maybe they want to give people something to burn off the steam. It’s funny to see in St. Louis the police department forbid people shooting the gun at the sky during new year, while the firework is loosened in Shanghai. Being back for the Chinese New Year first time in 8 years, I felt very unease with the crackers. Although I have not seen anybody hurt at the scene, I still think its’a very dangerous thing. On the fourth day of New Year, it’s the tradition of welcome “God of Fortune” in Shanghai (I don’t remember it in Ningbo). Another round of firework. And crackers.
Restroom
This is a very practical topic. I found it’s frustrating to find a public restroom in some old neighbourhood (Li Nong/Long, sorry for my Pin Yin). It’s like find a restroom in the old China town in Chicago. Another thing keep in mind is you need to carry some change for using the restroom.
Courtsey
The service industry is growing very rapidly and the service standard has been raisen in the same time. When I got up and walk through the motel hallway, motel people will greet me with “Happy New Year” or “Welcome”. Samething when I go to motel cafeteria. Samething when I go to Starbucks. I felt welcomed initially but after a while I felt unconfortable. Maybe I have been in the States for too long. There are also greetings, but it’s not being taught and standardrized, people will say “Good morning”, “How are you”, “What’s up”,…depend on the situation and their own preference. Personally I like the nonstandard and spontanous thing better. I remember a security check guy at STL Airport’s joke very clearly. There were two lines for security check. He refer to people in his line as “Pittsburgh Steelers” fan, while the other line as “Seattle Seahawks”. These are two football teams will fight for superbowl this Sunday Feb 5 in Detroit.
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A poor guy from St. Louis
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I happened to visit some of the high-end shopping malls in Shanghai yesterday. One is CITIC square (中信泰富广场), which host many world top brands such as Amanni, Bailey, Mont Blanc, etc. The price tag of some of the items amazed me quite a bit, e.g., I saw a ladies’ coat for RMB 9500, a sweat shirt for RMB 2500, same for a belt…Being a guy from St. Louis, which does not have all those specialty stores, I felt I am very ignorant and powerless. I feel pretty good about myself when I do shopping in St. Louis, as long as I don’t go to Plaza Frontenac for the real high end stuff such as Boss and Amanni, with my current salary. But in Shanghai CITIC, I felt much poorer. Interestingly enough, 10 years ago, when I was a engineer working for a state-owned factory in Shanghai, earning a 3 figure RMB salary, I had similar feeling when I visited the stores in Nanjing Rd.
But on the other hand, I believe money is not everything. We do want some money to spoil ourselves from time to time. A cup of Latte, a nice dinner, a concert, a new car…But do we really need those luxury items I mentioned above to make us happy? If happiness can be bought by money, I will work like crazy to make more $$$ so that I can buy happiness.
My other advice is to the guys not earning a six figure (USD) anual income: don’t take your significant other to the CITIC square. Just kidding.
I also checkd out the apartment prices in Shanghai. It went down a bit but it’s still very expensive considering the average wage in this city (I believe it’s about RMB 5000 to 10000 for white collar workers). It’s more expensive than St. Louis, a middle-size US city whose housing price is about the US national average. Although I understand Shanghai is a world class city these days and will have a status of New York or London in the future, I have a lot of sympathy for those young professionals who tried to buy an apartment here in Shanghai. Of course there are other options such as renting. But it seems like if a guy can not buy an apartment, very few girls will marry him. Not sure if it’s a culture thing or money thing.
Note: 1 USD = 8 RMB as of Jan 31, 2006. I hope the USD could hold its value because I am earning USD for now.
Note 2: I happened to see this special edition regarding luxury brands expanding in China from Yahoo.