I updated my other blog: http://stevenq.blogspot.com
UPDATE!!!!
I plan to do updates to this "other" blog page now. Sorry it's been over a year since any updates. Check the other blog to see what I've been up to.
I do not plan to update this Blog anymore. It's way better and simpler to maintain 1 Blog rather than 2 and I'm going to devote all energies to White Lotuses' Blog and Travel Page.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
I updated my other blog: http://stevenq.blogspot.com
UPDATE!!!!
I plan to do updates to this "other" blog page now. Sorry it's been over a year since any updates. Check the other blog to see what I've been up to.
I do not plan to update this Blog anymore. It's way better and simpler to maintain 1 Blog rather than 2 and I'm going to devote all energies to White Lotuses' Blog and Travel Page.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Buy Used Car
I got inspiration to do a blog on a guide to buying a used car. I'm no expert by any mean, but I did learn a lot from my recent adventure. I've learned that if you have the time, patience is the key to finding the good car at good price. If you don't have the time and do not spend the effort, you probably won't get good result, although it's possible you might just get lucky.
There are 2 different ways to buy the car: from private party or dealer. Everyone says to go with private party because it's cheaper, but they don't consider that private parties are also harder to get hold of. I don't know how many times I emailed or called someone about the car and 3 days later I would get a response.
That's one thing that's nice about dealer. He's always there, always open and ready and willing to sell the car. They will even go past the closing hour if they need to. The dealer also puts in the time to make the care look nice and saleable which is not always the case with private party. I looked at one Honda Civic Si from a Korean guy. He was really pushy, had a nasty gash in the back of the bumper. He referred to the gash as a "scratch" but it was more than a scratch, it looked like an accident.
The Korean guy didn't bother to fix the car before selling. It's something the dealer would definitely have done because it took that Korean guy at least a month to sell his car. He was trying to go for a quick sale on a very low price but he had trouble soliciting real offers. It didn't help that the clutch was largely worn down. I could feel it on the test drive, and I got the feeling the car was either driven hard, or there was an issue with the tranny.
When I look at a car I try to get a mental picture of what the previous owner did with it. I look at the Carfax history as well as the condition of the car. I know the previous owner of my car let it get quite dirty, as I could find dirt and dust in nooks and crannies. But I also know the previous owner didn't drive the car much, which was one reason I found it attractive.
I used Kelley Blue book and NADA as well as forums from the Honda Civic Si to get an accurate picture of what my car was worth. I figured $15k was what I was looking for and I got it. I feel fortunate now because the Japan earthquakes have caused used car values to go up slightly. The dealer didn't like haggling, which is weird for a dealer, because that's the nature of their job. They had priced the car kind of low so it would sell quickly but I think they were being nice to me cause the next Civic Si was being sold for considerably more.
I used Patelco credit Union, however, I learned that it's not a bad thing to use the dealers financing. A lot of the small credit unions people like to use, actually are part of the dealer's network so it's entirely possible you could use the dealer financing and STILL wind up using the credit union you were already pre-approved with! Of course that wasn't the case with me, since my Credit Union was based in San Francisco and my dealer was clear up in Seattle.
Given my experience with Patelco I would have stood pat on the monthly payments (rates) but I would have gone with the dealer financing because dealing with Patelco was a pain in the ass. I called them to find out if everything was going smoothly with the purchase and they said they could not find my application so they had me fill out a new one. Lost my application! What the hell? It turned out the girl had not extended the "search" date to January when I first filled out the application stupid girl.
Also, the person who I was working with, was taking a vacation that particular week, and apparently, she was the only person that would do anything since that's how they do things at Patelco. Come again? Someone takes a vacation so I have to wait until they come back to finalize my purchase??? Eventually, the stupid girl, took charge since the lady on vacation didn't bother to follow up with my purchase, even after she got back from vacation.
I finally wound up finishing everything. I didn't send in any proof of insurance or any of the paperworks that explained that I would have to send in, in order to finalize the purchase. I guess this was the only positive part of the experience with Patelco, although I think working with the dealer financing would have been much more streamlined and easier. And my payments would be the same if not lower.
There are 2 different ways to buy the car: from private party or dealer. Everyone says to go with private party because it's cheaper, but they don't consider that private parties are also harder to get hold of. I don't know how many times I emailed or called someone about the car and 3 days later I would get a response.
That's one thing that's nice about dealer. He's always there, always open and ready and willing to sell the car. They will even go past the closing hour if they need to. The dealer also puts in the time to make the care look nice and saleable which is not always the case with private party. I looked at one Honda Civic Si from a Korean guy. He was really pushy, had a nasty gash in the back of the bumper. He referred to the gash as a "scratch" but it was more than a scratch, it looked like an accident.
The Korean guy didn't bother to fix the car before selling. It's something the dealer would definitely have done because it took that Korean guy at least a month to sell his car. He was trying to go for a quick sale on a very low price but he had trouble soliciting real offers. It didn't help that the clutch was largely worn down. I could feel it on the test drive, and I got the feeling the car was either driven hard, or there was an issue with the tranny.
When I look at a car I try to get a mental picture of what the previous owner did with it. I look at the Carfax history as well as the condition of the car. I know the previous owner of my car let it get quite dirty, as I could find dirt and dust in nooks and crannies. But I also know the previous owner didn't drive the car much, which was one reason I found it attractive.
I used Kelley Blue book and NADA as well as forums from the Honda Civic Si to get an accurate picture of what my car was worth. I figured $15k was what I was looking for and I got it. I feel fortunate now because the Japan earthquakes have caused used car values to go up slightly. The dealer didn't like haggling, which is weird for a dealer, because that's the nature of their job. They had priced the car kind of low so it would sell quickly but I think they were being nice to me cause the next Civic Si was being sold for considerably more.
I used Patelco credit Union, however, I learned that it's not a bad thing to use the dealers financing. A lot of the small credit unions people like to use, actually are part of the dealer's network so it's entirely possible you could use the dealer financing and STILL wind up using the credit union you were already pre-approved with! Of course that wasn't the case with me, since my Credit Union was based in San Francisco and my dealer was clear up in Seattle.
Given my experience with Patelco I would have stood pat on the monthly payments (rates) but I would have gone with the dealer financing because dealing with Patelco was a pain in the ass. I called them to find out if everything was going smoothly with the purchase and they said they could not find my application so they had me fill out a new one. Lost my application! What the hell? It turned out the girl had not extended the "search" date to January when I first filled out the application stupid girl.
Also, the person who I was working with, was taking a vacation that particular week, and apparently, she was the only person that would do anything since that's how they do things at Patelco. Come again? Someone takes a vacation so I have to wait until they come back to finalize my purchase??? Eventually, the stupid girl, took charge since the lady on vacation didn't bother to follow up with my purchase, even after she got back from vacation.
I finally wound up finishing everything. I didn't send in any proof of insurance or any of the paperworks that explained that I would have to send in, in order to finalize the purchase. I guess this was the only positive part of the experience with Patelco, although I think working with the dealer financing would have been much more streamlined and easier. And my payments would be the same if not lower.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Canada & Seattle Weather
Just got back from Richmond last nite. Did some thinking whilst driving. Having been to Canada many times now I realize something. The country did not become it's own until 1982. They were a British colony all this time and I didn't know it.
I'm trying to figure out why every time I go inside store it is all filled with American musics, clothing, culture, etc. Where is the Canadian culture? Canadian people seem very proud of their country.
I looked it up: 33 million people live in Canada. Contrast with Los Angeles County with 9.8 million. New York city has 8 million people. That's more than half the population of Canada tied up in two metropolitan areas in the U.S. I think this is one big reason why Canadians have not offered much in terms of contribution to the world.
Also, I think their government is very strict. The fiscal and monetary policies are some of the most conservative on the earth. I'm learning that having tight control over the money and fiscal policy can have damaging results on growth. If everyone were forced to put down 20% on their homes before purchase, few people would own homes and growth would be stifled.
Coupled with the fact that Canadians pay between 25 and 30% of their income as tax and you can see that it's hard for Canadians to be venture capitalists when they are struggling just to keep afloat. The gov cracked own on internet use requiring ISP's to only allow 25GB downloads per month. That's really small compared to U.S. which offers unlimited for most ISP's. How can people be allowed to do what they want, or need to do if they cannot even access the internet? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars
Other thoughts
Seattle is boring. I realize that's why I keep going back to Richmond and Vancouver. The food is pretty good in some places but the overall ambience is largely blasee. I guess you could say it's like being out in farmsville, only there aren't any farms. After 9p everything shuts down, nothing is open except the bars in Belletown.
Even my guru at the Redmond temple says Seattle is boring. He's now in Taiwan where it's dirtier, but much more exciting. I guess you could say Richmond and Vancouver draw comparisons with San Francisco. They both have huge asian populations.
I realized coming from SF, if my friends or family visited Vancouver or Richmond, it would not be a big deal. There are so many asians in SF and it's already so exciting, Vancouver would just come off as another big city to them, although I must say, Vancouverites are more friendly than San Franciscans.
I read article about the founder of Google, Sergey Brin. He's an ideas guy who isn't afraid to speak his mind. Early in the company's history a marketing guy was doing a speech and saying that the company's competitors were catching up to Google and they had to do something to differentiate themselves by doing some clever marketing.
Brin simply said, "if we don't have the best quality product, maybe we don't deserve to win." I think most of the people around Seattle tend to be more like the marketing guy and people from SF tend to be more like Brin. People around here really aren't brash and outspoken. CA seems to have a way of cultivating ideas and individuality like no other place. I think people who aren't from CA, like those on the east coast, have a difficult time understanding this.
I haven't spend much time on the east coast, but it seems the biggest movers and shakers in the tech industry are all on the west coast, with very little to nothing coming from the east coast.
It seems to me, the east coast is all about politics which would make sense, because the political seat of power is on the east coast. But it seems to me that people seem to be afraid of going against the grain on the east coast for fear of being labelled as an outcast, whereas people in the Bay Area have no problem with going against the current. Unfortunately this has resulted in people around the nation chiding California for being a group of whacked out liberals, which they kind of are.
Last thing. I was driving back home through Seattle and had to turn the heat down a couple notches. I immediately noticed it had gotten warmer. For some reason the city of Seattle is warmer than the other areas. For some reason, it also gets less rainfall than the surrounding communities. It seems weird. I only noticed this because it was pointed out by the weather newscasters on tv who said that chief Seattle was a genius for locating his Native American tribe in that location (because it got less rain than the surrounding areas).
I guess it could very well be possible that the city of Seattle actually gets less rainfall than say, San Francisco. This might apply to Seattle proper, but I can guarantee you, it does not apply to the region in general. We are always getting rained on over here.
I'm trying to figure out why every time I go inside store it is all filled with American musics, clothing, culture, etc. Where is the Canadian culture? Canadian people seem very proud of their country.
I looked it up: 33 million people live in Canada. Contrast with Los Angeles County with 9.8 million. New York city has 8 million people. That's more than half the population of Canada tied up in two metropolitan areas in the U.S. I think this is one big reason why Canadians have not offered much in terms of contribution to the world.
Also, I think their government is very strict. The fiscal and monetary policies are some of the most conservative on the earth. I'm learning that having tight control over the money and fiscal policy can have damaging results on growth. If everyone were forced to put down 20% on their homes before purchase, few people would own homes and growth would be stifled.
Coupled with the fact that Canadians pay between 25 and 30% of their income as tax and you can see that it's hard for Canadians to be venture capitalists when they are struggling just to keep afloat. The gov cracked own on internet use requiring ISP's to only allow 25GB downloads per month. That's really small compared to U.S. which offers unlimited for most ISP's. How can people be allowed to do what they want, or need to do if they cannot even access the internet? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars
Other thoughts
Seattle is boring. I realize that's why I keep going back to Richmond and Vancouver. The food is pretty good in some places but the overall ambience is largely blasee. I guess you could say it's like being out in farmsville, only there aren't any farms. After 9p everything shuts down, nothing is open except the bars in Belletown.
Even my guru at the Redmond temple says Seattle is boring. He's now in Taiwan where it's dirtier, but much more exciting. I guess you could say Richmond and Vancouver draw comparisons with San Francisco. They both have huge asian populations.
I realized coming from SF, if my friends or family visited Vancouver or Richmond, it would not be a big deal. There are so many asians in SF and it's already so exciting, Vancouver would just come off as another big city to them, although I must say, Vancouverites are more friendly than San Franciscans.
I read article about the founder of Google, Sergey Brin. He's an ideas guy who isn't afraid to speak his mind. Early in the company's history a marketing guy was doing a speech and saying that the company's competitors were catching up to Google and they had to do something to differentiate themselves by doing some clever marketing.
Brin simply said, "if we don't have the best quality product, maybe we don't deserve to win." I think most of the people around Seattle tend to be more like the marketing guy and people from SF tend to be more like Brin. People around here really aren't brash and outspoken. CA seems to have a way of cultivating ideas and individuality like no other place. I think people who aren't from CA, like those on the east coast, have a difficult time understanding this.
I haven't spend much time on the east coast, but it seems the biggest movers and shakers in the tech industry are all on the west coast, with very little to nothing coming from the east coast.
It seems to me, the east coast is all about politics which would make sense, because the political seat of power is on the east coast. But it seems to me that people seem to be afraid of going against the grain on the east coast for fear of being labelled as an outcast, whereas people in the Bay Area have no problem with going against the current. Unfortunately this has resulted in people around the nation chiding California for being a group of whacked out liberals, which they kind of are.
Last thing. I was driving back home through Seattle and had to turn the heat down a couple notches. I immediately noticed it had gotten warmer. For some reason the city of Seattle is warmer than the other areas. For some reason, it also gets less rainfall than the surrounding communities. It seems weird. I only noticed this because it was pointed out by the weather newscasters on tv who said that chief Seattle was a genius for locating his Native American tribe in that location (because it got less rain than the surrounding areas).
I guess it could very well be possible that the city of Seattle actually gets less rainfall than say, San Francisco. This might apply to Seattle proper, but I can guarantee you, it does not apply to the region in general. We are always getting rained on over here.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Ponzi Scheme Allegations Dropped Against Regal Bank
So it's good to know good things have happened to family. Here's the good news article from Biz Journals:
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2011/06/ponzi-scheme-allegations-against-regal.html
"A federal lawsuit against Seattle-based Regal Financial, and its former chief executive Jesse Tam that alleged both parties conspired in an international Ponzi scheme has been dismissed, according to court documents and information from the bank Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in late 2009 in U.S. District Court in Seattle, was settled by all the parties involved. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but all claims against the bank and its directors and officers have been dismissed, according to Regal.
The suit named a total of 21 defendants with ties to Washington, Utah, and several international locations. It alleged that the bank and Tam were involved in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that bilked hundreds of Indonesian investors out of $600 million.
Tam left Regal in November 2009, before the suit was filed. Regal has long defended itself against the allegations, saying in a previous statement that the Indonesian investors "neither invested in or have ever had any banking relationship with Regal."
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2011/06/ponzi-scheme-allegations-against-regal.html
"A federal lawsuit against Seattle-based Regal Financial, and its former chief executive Jesse Tam that alleged both parties conspired in an international Ponzi scheme has been dismissed, according to court documents and information from the bank Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in late 2009 in U.S. District Court in Seattle, was settled by all the parties involved. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but all claims against the bank and its directors and officers have been dismissed, according to Regal.
The suit named a total of 21 defendants with ties to Washington, Utah, and several international locations. It alleged that the bank and Tam were involved in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that bilked hundreds of Indonesian investors out of $600 million.
Tam left Regal in November 2009, before the suit was filed. Regal has long defended itself against the allegations, saying in a previous statement that the Indonesian investors "neither invested in or have ever had any banking relationship with Regal."
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Koreans
I'm living in Federal Way where there is an absolutely HUGE population of Korean people. I've never seen so many Koreans in my life. Couple nights ago I had conversation with a Korean couple. We were both carrying garbage to the dispenser and were chatting a bit.
I sometimes frequent the local Korean market H-Mart. There is another called Paldo World but I rarely go there. In my interactions with Koreans (I went to a couple free Korean language classes in Bellevue), I've learned they are very conservative. They are much like Chinese but they are more fierce in their pride.
I read article today about a raid on Apple office as well as Google office in Korea. One man was paid a little under $1,000US because Apple collected information about his location for a year or something like that without his consent. It has touched off a backlash and the man is now doing a class action lawsuit in Korea against Apple. Google's offices were also raided because of similar suspicions.
Samsung, the number 1 electronics co. in Korea is fiercely competitive and proud. They are genuinely upset that an American company like Apple can simply come up with a product like iPhone and take over the market after Samsung has been making cell phone for many many years.
I think Koreans might put more emphasis on face than Chinese and wouldn't do anything to openly show you up. One time I was at H-Mart and the Korean salesperson bowed to me. It totally shocked me because nobody ever did that before. I've had a couple Koreans bow to me and they say "On yang ha say yo" which means "hello" in Korean.
I don't know any Chinese people that bow. I also don't recall too many Chinese that seemed so motivated out of pride like Samsung is. I remember a conversation with my Korean language teacher. He told me he moved from Korea when he was small child like 9 or 10 yr old. He failed to register for armed services when he turned 18 which is a rite of passage in S. Korea.
In Korea, all the 18 yr olds after they finish H.S. must attend at least 2 year armed services. Since this young man did not attend they went to his family's house to arrest him, but he was in United States. He now feels he cannot go back because he will be arrested.
I talked with another Korean about this, and they said that there's ways to get around the armed services requirement and that it's well known. I got the impression that he was maybe a little irresponsible for not addressing this issue before the time came and probably didn't care for going back. I think he'll regret that decision some day.
*****Update*****
Ok, I talked to my Auntie who is Korean and she tells me that it is not normal for Korean people to bow. She says that she didn't know why they bowed to me and it's not normal custom.
I sometimes frequent the local Korean market H-Mart. There is another called Paldo World but I rarely go there. In my interactions with Koreans (I went to a couple free Korean language classes in Bellevue), I've learned they are very conservative. They are much like Chinese but they are more fierce in their pride.
I read article today about a raid on Apple office as well as Google office in Korea. One man was paid a little under $1,000US because Apple collected information about his location for a year or something like that without his consent. It has touched off a backlash and the man is now doing a class action lawsuit in Korea against Apple. Google's offices were also raided because of similar suspicions.
Samsung, the number 1 electronics co. in Korea is fiercely competitive and proud. They are genuinely upset that an American company like Apple can simply come up with a product like iPhone and take over the market after Samsung has been making cell phone for many many years.
I think Koreans might put more emphasis on face than Chinese and wouldn't do anything to openly show you up. One time I was at H-Mart and the Korean salesperson bowed to me. It totally shocked me because nobody ever did that before. I've had a couple Koreans bow to me and they say "On yang ha say yo" which means "hello" in Korean.
I don't know any Chinese people that bow. I also don't recall too many Chinese that seemed so motivated out of pride like Samsung is. I remember a conversation with my Korean language teacher. He told me he moved from Korea when he was small child like 9 or 10 yr old. He failed to register for armed services when he turned 18 which is a rite of passage in S. Korea.
In Korea, all the 18 yr olds after they finish H.S. must attend at least 2 year armed services. Since this young man did not attend they went to his family's house to arrest him, but he was in United States. He now feels he cannot go back because he will be arrested.
I talked with another Korean about this, and they said that there's ways to get around the armed services requirement and that it's well known. I got the impression that he was maybe a little irresponsible for not addressing this issue before the time came and probably didn't care for going back. I think he'll regret that decision some day.
*****Update*****
Ok, I talked to my Auntie who is Korean and she tells me that it is not normal for Korean people to bow. She says that she didn't know why they bowed to me and it's not normal custom.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Baseball
I'm listening to sports talk radio right now and they are talking about how the baseball team (Mariners) won 116 games in 1year. It set a record in baseball for most wins by a team in one season. I think back to all the playoff appearances by tbe Giants, including the one year D Baker pulled Russ Ortiz, and I don't ever remember the sports talk radio hosts having a celebration in remembrance of their good year. I think fans in San Francisco are a bit more demanding. They, like the San Francisco Bay Area have an edge I have never seen in any other city. I have never been to NY, however based on what I've heard and read, I would guess it's not quite the same. The ppl in SF are a bit more high strung for better or worse.
What we are doing here is not unlike what a small town in Oklahoma would do if their little baseball team made a good season. I think it's cute. Initially the San Franciscan in me said, "what?!? Why are they celebrating? The did not even win the championship." But part of me appreciates the small, down to earth approach to having some fun and celebrating the little things the teams has accomplished, since they don't have anything else to hang their hat on. Seattle definitely has a bit of that mid-west feel to it and this is not necessarily a bad thing. It's certainly more wholesome than the rabid infatuation many fans in (and outside) of San Francisco exhibit.
Chris Russo, a sports broadcaster in NY, and lifelong Gigantes fan. has one of the funniest rants I've ever heard. He literally sounds like a man who sounds like he is at his wits end because the Giants once again, failed to win the World Series. I've not heard one single Mariners fan with half the passion Chris Russo has, not to say that they don't have passion, but in general, it's bad form to appear rabid.
You can hear the rant here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_8AQwk4gY
What we are doing here is not unlike what a small town in Oklahoma would do if their little baseball team made a good season. I think it's cute. Initially the San Franciscan in me said, "what?!? Why are they celebrating? The did not even win the championship." But part of me appreciates the small, down to earth approach to having some fun and celebrating the little things the teams has accomplished, since they don't have anything else to hang their hat on. Seattle definitely has a bit of that mid-west feel to it and this is not necessarily a bad thing. It's certainly more wholesome than the rabid infatuation many fans in (and outside) of San Francisco exhibit.
Chris Russo, a sports broadcaster in NY, and lifelong Gigantes fan. has one of the funniest rants I've ever heard. He literally sounds like a man who sounds like he is at his wits end because the Giants once again, failed to win the World Series. I've not heard one single Mariners fan with half the passion Chris Russo has, not to say that they don't have passion, but in general, it's bad form to appear rabid.
You can hear the rant here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_8AQwk4gY
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Auto Service with a wash?
I have noticed that every time I bring my car in somewhere here they include a free car wash. Sims Honda offered a free car wash when they did my gear set, Honda of Fife offered a wash after my oil change. I don't ever remember getting car wash when I was in the Bay Area.
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