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advice and tips Fun kids

Under the wing 旅途点滴

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上面这个照片是我在最近一次的去中国的航班上照的。来美国有快二十年，坐过很多次飞跃太平洋的航班，坐的最多可能是美联航的航班。从芝加哥到上海的直航也就13，14个小时，加上从圣村到芝城的一个小时再加上几个小时的lay over, 总共的旅行时间比我当年从宁波到武汉上学的时间（大概是37，38小时，包括两次中转的时间）还短些。当然还比当年的火车舒服些。飞机坐多了，难免会有这样那样的事。最吓人的一回是2004年夏天从旧金山走，说是飞机起飞时发现翅膀发动机有火花。飞机在海上把满箱的油放掉后返航。当时乘务员给大家出了一个题，多少油，多少钱一加仑航空油。我算了一下大概是30多万美元。随着航空公司这两年越来越追求利润，不知道现在还会不会这样做？

还有一次是冬天，圣村到凤城的航班因雪晚点。等我赶到去上海的登机口，飞机已起飞。求工作人员能否让我standby 还没走的北京航班。也许是被我的诚意打动，工作人员给我改签了到北京的standby。飞北京的航班也已快结束登机，这一次还有一个空位。工作人员把已关闭的登机口再打开（我是第一回碰到这种情况），登机不久，飞机就离开登机口了。

这几年回国免不了坐动车高铁，速度快，不拥挤。还有味道不错的快餐。

我在大学时的火车可没这么好：慢，在春运时非常拥挤。第一年春节回校，在杭州转车。记得那天天气很好，中午到杭州后晚上再坐车，就跑到西湖边来晃晃。印象中杭州的女孩身材不错，穿着也比内地女孩稍时髦些，很有特点（妩媚又很得体）。有一次在南昌转车，好像是南昌到北京的车（经过武汉）。不光没位置，而且连站的地方都没有。火车还在株洲还是武昌附近弄了很长时间的临时停车。记得当时一个武大还是华工科英的88级的女生给削了一个苹果，印象很深。在火车上基本上不想吃东西，也不怎么喝水。当时火车挤到什么程度？不知道80后，90后的同学有否体会？一个厕所里站了7个人，有个女孩想用洗手间，叫里面的男生出来一下，女生背对。结果没人响应，只能再挤一节车厢。另一次我记得我的一个宁波老乡在火车上说到家洗个热水澡，再抽根烟那是最美的事了。还有一个老乡，他家的条件好一些，就坐飞机去武汉，是运七飞机，螺旋桨的。我相信这些都是过去式了。

还有一些旅行的轶事和碰到的好心人，下回再说吧

Categories
401k and Personal Finance

Question on the Costco payment: should I pay Amex or Citi ?

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Reading FAQs from Citi web page. Quoted below.

====
Q1. When do I start sending my payments to Citi instead of American Express?
A1: When you receive a statement from American Express please send your payment to American Express by mail, phone, or online. When you receive a statement from Citi, please send your payment to the address in your statement or make a payment online once you register for Citi® Online.

Q2. If I have a balance on my Costco card from American Express, will it transfer over to my new Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi?
A2: Any balance on your Costco card from American Express account will transfer automatically to your new Costco Anywhere Card on June 20, 2016.
====

Now what if I have balance left over from Amex on June 20, 2016, to whom should I pay: Amex (according to A1), or Citi (implied by A2).

(Update 06-22-2016) Gave it a bit more thought, decided to keep the pre-scheduled full payment to the original Amex Costco, while adding a minimum payment to the new Citi Visa Costco. This way I would avoid the penalty if the Amex => Citi did not go through. 🙂

(Update 06-24-2016) So out of curiosity I actually posted this question to Citi via secured message. I received reply a few days later which appears stating they will do automatic transfer (from Amex to Citi).

(Update 07-02-2016) The payment went through (from Amex to Citi). A separate topic: it appears Citi did not give me 2% extra cashback for being Costco executive member (which according to the bulletin Costco just sent, it should). Anyway for me personally I will use Chase freedom (Visa) at Costco to get the 5% back (need to activate every quarter, which I did so far).

OK, I am reading the fine prints at Costco: Only purchases made by the primary and primary household cardholder on the account will apply toward the Reward. Since my wife made the purchase, so it sounds I won’t get the 2%?

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advice and tips finance Fun

Hotels in Shanghai I stayed in recent years

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Courtyard in Xujiahui (formerly Tibet hotel, as you can see the rooftop design, tripAdvisor, marriott website). Good location and friendly people. I recall the first time I visited (2011), I used my Marriott rewards and silver status, the front desk especially got the leader over and greet. I suspect at that time, perhaps there were not many guests with Marriott silver status. In fact for me it’s just a benefit of Marriott card via Chase. The location is really nice. There is a restaurant next to the hotel. And some convenience stores in walking distance. It’s within the walking distance of Xujiahui business district. It costs 10,000 points Marriott points or about 700 to 800 CNY per night. I stayed there a few times. I recall I received those points from the Chase Marriott credit card . 02-21-2024: note the Marriott loyalty program is now called Bonvoy, a romatic word, at least from the sound. I no longer have the card now. The only hotel co-brand card I have now is the Chase Hyatt (World of Hyatt).

Four Points by Sheraton in Pudong (starwood hotel website, tripAdvisor). It costs 4000 SPG points. It’s bigger than the Courtyard Xujiahui, in fact many things in Pudong is bigger than Puxi, think it as downtown vs. suburban in the US (as one of my Haigui friends once said). The cash rate is between $72 to about $200 per night (depends on room).

Another hotel, I have not stayed, but will stay this June, is Park Hyatt in Shanghai Pudong (tripAdvisor). I am going to use my Hyatt free night there. The going rate is a bit expensive, I think.

Note I used to stay at budget hotels in Shanghai back in 2006/7. Now with family and kids, I can no longer do that.

Categories
iPhone app

Back to iPhone

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I used the Amazon Fire phone as my personal phone for almost a year. But a recent incident made me decide to switch. I have an iPhone 6 from work since last Sept. But for all the important places such as my daughter’s school I leave my own mobile phone number there. And last week, during a time when I need the Amazon fire to work, it failed. Basically the school bus coordinator wanted to get hold of me because of a mistake on my daughter’s side (she was supposed to go home after the art club activity, but she forgot about that and took bus home right after school, which means there is no grown up to pick her up at the bus stop).

I know one reason I did not answer phone initially was these days most of my unsolicited calls are from spammers (not just recruiters, they are people who tell me I won lottery, won a cruise, or try to sell me cable or home security services). I knew this one is real because the same number called twice. But when I picked up the second call, there is no sound. After a while I did figure out, the speaker on Amazon fire phone ONLY WORKS when I plug in the headphone (the ear phone). So on my way to home, the 3rd call came, this time it worked because I have bluetooth on the car, and I picked up the phone and found out what was happening. It has been about 14 minutes since the first call.

This incident was the main motivator for me to switch back to iPhone. Since I already gave my old iPhone 5s to my wife, I decided order the new SE for her, and then get the old 5s back. Switching back was almost trivial, just swap out the nano SIM card, and also since I had the google contacts managing my address book on Amazon Fire, I just imported them when I added the Gmail to iPhone 5s. I know when switching from iPhone to iPhone, the best approach is via iCloud (to get the contacts moved over).

Now that I switched over, I was hoping this kind of thing does not happen. It could be nerve racking when taking about calls about bus accidents etc.

Categories
Life Saint Louis

JCC St. Louis and my exercise

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JCC St. Louis (2 locations, Creve Coeur and Chesterfield) are very good. I joined JCC in early 2012 mostly for its exercise facilities. At the time I got discounted rate through my employer, and at the same time the employer paid 3/4 of the membership fee. Over the years I changed my employer couple times, and I still kept the membership (paying the full price from my own pocket). But I felt it’s worth it, not only I used it for exercise, but also my family esp. my kids have lots of funs at the recreational pools. Also my old daughter had her art summer camp there last summer.

Keep in mind JCC is more than an exercise facility, or a summer camp. It also has a lot educational, cultural, or health related facilities and activities. Recently I attended a free seminar hosted by St. Lukes Hospital which talked about joint health and replacement (mostly knees and hips). For me it’s mostly educational since I am still in 40s and there is no need for replacement, the reason I went there is I got some hip pain, and I like to get more information out of it. Also, my doctor is also working at St. Luke’s orthopedic and joint center. Let me back to the exercise topic. Over the years I started pay attention to my activities esp. daily walking steps (read my post about this one 10 years ago>pedometers I used over the years). In St. Louis weather, there are some days in summer and winter, it will be too hot or cold to walk outside, we can walk in mall, in company hallway (if they have a long one, note I try to stay away from stairs recently as it may have contribute to my hip issue). JCC always offers the opportunities for me to walk or swim, probably more swim than walk for me. Most recently as I mentioned my hip issue, I started doing walk in water instead of swimming, using the floating drum-bells. It can exercise my upper body nicely. And in the past I used the steam room, recently I started using the whirlpool. It’s funny I heard once from a gentleman says he has been to 5 JCCs across the country, the St. Louis one is the best (I think he meant the Creve Coeur one 🙂 So basically I used water to relax and get the stress out of my hip and back. I will try get back to swim soon, hopefully. Maybe someday I will find a swimming coach to correct my technique.

I used the Chesterfield facility too, both for exercise (again walk/swim) and kids activity (KinderMusik). My old daughter attended kindermusik for 2 years (between 2.5 years old to 4.5 years old). I recall when she was switching from toddler program to the preschool (when she became 3), for a brief period, KinderMusik class is the only class she wanted to go. The indoor swim pool at Chesterfield is not as big as Creve Coeur (it has 2, a lap pool and a recreational pool). But Chesterfield has one advantage, the water temperature there is just about right, vs “a bit cold” in Creve Coeur lap pool, and “a bit warm” for the recreational pool.

I recall once I went to see the shabach on Friday afternoon during my daughter’s summer camp, it’s fun and interesting to see how they share the special bread. And also kids perform. It’s something that will stay in my memory for a long long time. Note they have koshal food too. I esp. like their corn beef, which I can also get from Kohn’s, which is down the street.

Categories
advice and tips

Time to say bye to Yahoo mail

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I know I know, I must live in stone age by using Yahoo mail. I do have gmail, but since I had Yahoo mail earlier than gmail (1998 vs. 2004, I think), I still rely on yahoo mail for some online accounts. This is even after some horrible incidents happened, in which someone stole my yahoo mail and sent out spams to everyone on my address book. Another reason I kept it, is all these archives. Sometime I search information from the Yahoo mail, e.g., my frequent flyer number I could not remember, etc. This means I could not divorce from yahoo mail that easily. But it’s something in my mind, and today I started to pull the plug. It could take a while.

The main reason I did this, is in last 2 days, I received 2 spams in yahoo mail, that on the surface both looked credible. This and the incident above implies one thing: Yahoo could not keep up with the modern email esp. security and spam filter technology anymore. I expect Gmail could tell the difference between spam and good email, and I expect them to keep my email account safe. Btw, the 2 spams appeared sent from Amazon and Paypal. So the first thing I did was to change may email for those 2 plus eBay from Yahoo mail to Gmail. I will change more as times goes. And will share if there is any tips or gotchas. Stay tuned…

Categories
finance Fun

Inflight wifi

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I’d read this one first, because it explains the technology and the players.

Gizmodo (Adam Clark Estes 5/04/15 3:41pm): Every Major Airline’s Wifi Service, Explained and Ranked

Some background why Gogo is the dominant player at this time.
Bloomberg (Sam Grobart | August 26, 2015): Why Gogo’s Infuriatingly Expensive, Slow Internet Still Owns the Skies

RunwayGirlNetwork has a lot of articles on this topic, such as the following:
US transcon war heats up as Virgin America taps ViaSat for Internet By Seth Miller

Gogo to launch global Ground-to-Orbit connectivity (a bit old, note 2014/03)

14 Oct 2015 JetBlue hits major milestones with Fly-Fi rollout By Seth Miller →

Now you know carrier wise, Jet Blue is the leader in terms of inflight wifi. This is consistent with the Gizmodo article above.

The Gogo AA dispute
Bloomberg: Gogo Plummets as American Airlines Eyes Competitor ViaSat Michaela Ross Mary Schlangenstein

16 Feb 2016 American looks to swap Gogo for ViaSat on 200 aircraft By Seth Miller →

Beyond sky
Wi-Fi on Cruises: Five Popular Ships Ranked Written by Cynthia Drescher May 15, 2015. Note the newer generation technology behind the inflight wifi and cruise ship wifi are similar: satellite. The thing impressed me (quote below): Speed tests on a preview cruise, with every passenger provided complimentary access, measured an average of 5.00 Mbps download and 4.33 Mbps upload.

Categories
advice and tips Fun

Some thoughts on wechat hongbao (red packet)

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I came across a good discussion on the topic here at Baidu. Interesting discussions.

Btw, I thought about it before reading that, and decided to give most of my earnings to OCEF. Today I saw my name on the report. Good: really I don’t care too much about my name there, and I know my contribution is small, but I want the money to be in good hands. And I know they are doing good work for kids in disadvantaged economy condition.

wechat hongbao

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advice and tips finance Fun

Tax

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(Update 02-23-2016) Got the refund from Uncle Sam. From filing to receive refund only takes 7 days via turbo tax web version. Now I am waiting till 4/15 for the state because I owe money to show me state 🙂

(Update 02-16-2016) I filed the tax last night, since I got almost all the forms I need. In case some other form showed up and it it’s meaningful, I can always do an amended return. Again I used the Fidelity deal mentioned below ($15 off $55 for premier version).

(Update 02-09-2016) I found a possible meaningful deduction or credit for those with High Deductible Health Insurance Plan. I found I can get about $1400 more back after filling in the HSA (Health Saving Account) information, it asked me do I have HDP plan on Dec 1st 2015, the answer is “Yes”.

(Original 02-02-2016) It’s that season again. I received two W-2s lately (I know I know :-), and tonight I started working on it. Note I’ve done Federal tax using TurboTax online version since 2001 (ever since I worked full time). I know we can get discount from the PC version from time to time, but I felt it’s worth the money to use the online version so that I know I always have a copy somewhere on the cloud (note back in 2001 cloud was a far far place compared to today, I recall I was using dial up Internet at the time). This could come handy when sometimes I need a 1040 for home refinance etc. I know one can have a backup of desktop version too, but it better be kept in a safe place and personally I prefer turbo tax (intuit) do it. It’s a bit like personal safety deposit box at bank.

Back to the topic. There are still places we can get some discount using the online version, note there are many versions too, I used mostly Deluxe or Premier version. Some of the places I have used (or knew of) in the past: essentially an affiliate link from bank, brokerage website etc: vanguard, ADP (seems no longer available), Bank of America, Scottrade etc. More recently I think the deal offered by Fidelity, Discover are good. Both have up to $20 off: $7 off (Deluxe) or $15 off (premier version, that’s what I used last year 2015 tax season, for $40). And I used this one again this year. It seems both links are available to everyone. I know in the past someimes the links are just for customers. Last but not least, Southwest offers 1000 miles (roughly $10, so not as sweet as the fidelity or discover deal if you go for the premier version, but still good if you are into the LUV miles 🙂

Federal Only, features, and free to use
I don’t use their State version very often though. I recall once I used it, probably because I was expecting a meaningful federal refund and decided to spent a little. And it backfired. The problem was I put a negative amount in the income field for my wife, and the software did not detect it. But the state revenue department noticed it and sent my return back. I was very angry initially at Turbo Tax. But their accountant was very calm and professional. So I corrected it eventually.

Over the years I saw Turbo Tax software improved consistently. There are two modes: wizard mode which walks one through the steps, ideal for new user; or the topic mode which is better suited for experienced user, basically I know which topic (income, deduction etc.) I need to jump into and it saves me time this way. It also added the “import” capability over the years: from W-2 to 1099 to stock trading records. It implemented 2 factor authentication too, so gives a peace of mind.

All those features are free to use as long as you don’t file tax via them. For State tax I actually used it as a verification tool. So this is a free tool for verification for those DIYers. I do file tax using Turbo Tax as I think its checking mechanism reduces the chance of being audited, and it gets refund faster.

Refund
Most of the time I got some federal refund, and due a small tax for state. Also I do direct deposit all the same for refunds. That’s usually faster than check. Once I joked with one of my coworker, he said he always get some tax refund, but he was not in a hurry to get it. I asked him why. He said because if he gets it, his wife will spend it, and they would not have money for summer vacation. I really love his thinking, and his wife’s spending habit. I think we as consumers have this trend more or less, because we feel a lot richer when we get a big chunk of money 🙂

Categories
advice and tips finance

Buy low

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This is an email I received recently, it notified me that my former employer withdrew the unvested petition of 401k from my account. You may think it’s bad. But I still think it’s a good deal because I contributed about $17,365 of my own money bewteen 2008/11 and 2010/02. The money doubled in about 6 years. Note during the time there’s financial crisis.