What's in my head?: February 2005

Saturday, February 26, 2005

It's SPRINGY!!!!

Look look look!!! It's SPRINGY!

From The Simpsons:

From the Webbys:

Go springy!

Thursday, February 24, 2005

As if there wasn't enough wrong with me...

I find this freakin' hilarious: Jack In The Box.

I guess it happened just about January 2000. The guys in my dorm succeeded in sucking me in to watching WWF wrestling again. (Now called WWE) Sure enough, I fell for The Great One, The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment, THE ROCK! Suddenly, belittling people in just the right way was the funniest thing in the world to me. Oh, I owe a lot to The Rock, to the point of ridicule, but that's another blog altogether. I have again grown weary of professional wrestling, but The Rock is still The Man.

That brings me to another hero of mine. Let's get something straight. I AM the overgrown boy scout. No drinking, smoking, "special" smoking, alcohol, etc, etc. Be good, be nice, help others, do your best, etc etc. See where I'm going with this? That's right. SUPERMAN! Hey, I could be Superman! I would use those awesome powers for good, not for evil! Well, ok I guess you understand my perspective of Superman. But in keeping with my slightly insane sense of humor, I found it disturbing yet oddly funny when I came across this link to recorded cases of the Man of Steel being a... uhh.. meanie. Granted, those pictures are all out of context, but still...

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Wedding plans, installment one.

Ah, the planning of a wedding. Very exciting and stressful. I wonder how many couples break up just over the pressures of planning a wedding. Fortunately for me, I have a fiancee that just deals with it. Stress gets too high? Call Johnny, discuss, regroup, deal with it. Noelia has the unenviable task of spearheading the wedding preparations without me. Oh, I'm not saying that I would make everything a joy, and evaporate the stress, but it would be nice if I could at least be in the same freakin' country! Such is the way of life, I guess.

While I'm at work hacking away at code, ( or, more correctly, fighting with the development environment for 8 of the 10 hours I'm at work ), Noelia's researching. I went home recently, and here's what we did:

Visit three photographers
Visit two halls ( one of them twice )
Go shopping for bomboniere, (although I linked to the traditional definition, in modern days it can be pretty much any gift given to the guests of a wedding)
Go shopping for centrepieces
Pick out my tux, as well as those of the groomsmen

Not too bad for a three day trip. That, of course, was on top of my other agenda items, such as my uncle's birthday party.

So we got a photographer: Excellence Photography, who had the most beautiful and emotional pictures and best quality video. John is a really nice guy, and I look forward to seeing the results of his work at my wedding.

I got my tux all planned out, from Tuxedo Royale, but I'm not going to show you which one because I'm not letting Noelia know before the wedding :)

Now were ever so close to choosing our banquet hall. This one is a sticky one because the closer we get, the slower our progress becomes. We got an absolutely fantastic menu from those at DaVinci Banquet Hall, right at our budget including seat covers. Carmello is fantastic to work with. He's very accommodating, and has great suggestions. We then went to check out Le Parc, who had a slightly better overall look, with the same great menu. Tradeoff? The lobby was too small for us. Granted, our wedding will be small, at about 180-200 people, so some banquet halls have had a hard time finding a room small enough for us. (GEEZ!) After I returned to Seattle, Noelia checked out Mississauga Convention Centre, which we originally dismissed as too expensive. We're still in decision-making mode, so please offer your best in the comment section!
As a side note, these websites are severely out of date. The Mississauga Convention Centre is only 5 years old, and you can certainly tell that the website has not seen any changes since around that time. The design of the page is soooo 2000. The navigation is seriously flawed.... well, I'm an SDE, not a web designer, so I'll shut up about that now.

I was so tired while I was in Brampton that I felt like my vacation was more of a business trip. It was certainly nice to see my fiancee again, though.

Got absolutely nowhere on the bomboniere. This is usually a smallish (<=$10) gift such as a nicely wrapped salt and pepper shaker, candy dish, espresso cups, etc. I face the same dillemma as all the other modern couples: I want to give something useful, but also indicitive of the occasion. I personally don't like little statues and trinkits and such. I'm waaay to messy to have those organized in a little display case or whatever. For my parents' anniversary, I gave espresso cups and saucers. They were really nice, and great for my parents, but they're just not perfect for Noelia and I. Suggestions welcome in the comment section. Centrepieces?

Suggestions welcome in the comment section.
Suggestions welcome in the comment section.
Suggestions welcome in the comment section!
Suggestions welcome in the comment section!!
Suggestions welcome in the comment section!!!!
HELP ME OUT PEOPLE, LET'S SEE THIS FANCY INTERNET THING WORK!
hmmm now wouldn't it be impressive if Google AdSense picked up this blog and then showed some places to get bomboniere? Ah, my love for Google....

Continue reading Wedding plans, installment one. ...

Saturday, February 19, 2005

David Bach @ Amazon.com

Mr. David Bach, author of The Automatic Millionaire, Smart Women Finish Rich, Smart Couples Finish Rich, and Start Late, Finish Rich, came for a visit to Amazon.com. He had a few things to say that make sense. I'm hoping that this blog will start some conversation amoungst those that know money. Me... well, I'm not even acquainted with the stuff :(

He spoke very frankly and smartly. I tried to take some notes, and here's what I managed to record.

Are you smart with your debt?

Most people have some credit card debt, a car loan, and either rent or a mortgage.
- What are you going to do about your credit cards? Credit cards are spectacular money pits. Average interest rate hovers around 19%. One day late on a payment? Welcome to 29%... sometimes you can get to 37%. That wonderful "minimum payment" option? That will make you pay about 29K over 37 years for a 10K debt. Not good. Some reccomendations (they seem to be US-balanced, hopefully there are options internationally, as well): go to websites like http://www.lowermybills.com/ or http://www.bankrate.com and find yourself a CC with a lower interest rate. Sometimes you'll find offers such as 0% interest when you transfer your balance from another CC. Even if you get one of those letters from a CC Company offering you another card, at least read the terms. Armed with these offers, call up you CC company and ask what your rate it. If you can do better, tell them that the rate is too high and you want to cancel. Those are the magic words to make the Customer Service guy go into hyperdrive to satisfy the customer. You may even work out a 0% rate if you transfer some of your other CC debt to them. 0% interest sounds good to me!
- Car Loans?
  
  Cars are generally the single worst investment you can make. You buy the thing for a gagillion dollars, and one year later it's worth about $10. Great. This takes a little bit more number cookin', but a 3 year old car is usually a lot less.
  
  Take for example the Honda Accord. Honda has some of the best resale value in the
  industry, so I'll use this, and a Chev. Cavalier to show the difference.
  A 2004 Honda Accord LX Coupe 2D hits about 20,940.00, and a 2001 goes for about 14,415.
  hmmm ok. 6Gs for 3 years. Pretty good. Gotta love Honda.
  
  How about the Chevy?
  A 2004 LS 2Dr goes for 18K. A 2001 LS 2Dr goes for 9K. That's 50%!!
  
  (Source: http://www.kbb.com)
  
  So do your math! If Honda (for some reason) decides to offer 0% on a new Accord, and you can't get better than 10% interest from the bank for the used car, then it's your call. When the price difference is as staggering as the Chevy, however, perhaps you should consider pocketing the 50%... or investing it!
  
  Again, I reiterate, your milage WILL vary, so balance the actual cost of the loan. If you pay cash then it's usually a no brainer. Do you need BRAND NEW wheels? Hyundai had a 10 year warantee on their cars at some point. So if you want a new Tiburon, consider a 3 year old one... you still have 7 years left on the warantee!
- Mortgage.
  
  He really didn't get into this. So I guess the basic "shop around" principle applies.

Do you pay yourself first?

Use your 401(k) plan!!!! Before you even get your paycheck, Big Brother has taken more than his share. The only way to pay yourself first is by jamming some cash into your 401(k). To quote Ron Popeil, this is the "Set it and forget it" plan. Money comes out to pay your future self. No thinking involved. Better than that, many companies offer some form of matching. Why not take that raise? Rule of thumb: put at least one hour a day worth of money in there. ( Approx 12% )

What's your Latte Factor?

Do you spend $5 a day on coffee and or snacks?

That's about $150/month.

Can you invest that instead? On a long term average of 10%/year, that's $30,727 over 10 years. $113,905 over 20 years, $339,073 over 30 years, $948,612 over 40 years. Can you give up that expensive daily coffee? Is there anything else you can invest? Bagel? Chocolate? Can you brown bag your lunch? Hey, if you can give $5 a day without sacrifice, at least invest it! OR, how about still committing to the sacrifice $10/day? That's $300, month. Invested, that $61,453 in 10, $227,811 in 20 or $678,146 in 30 years!

Do you rent or own?

Plain and simple, rent == lost opportunity. Rent gets you a place to live for a month, and then it's gone. Mortgage payments at least get you closer to owning your place of residence. On top of that, your home generally increases in value, so your mortgage goes down, and your equity grows! There are legal methods by which you can purchase property without a down payment. If you can acquire more than one peice of property, rent the other one out! As THEY shrink your mortgage, YOUR equity grows. See why renting is bad?

Be the first one at new developments. (I'm pissed at myself for missing the boat on this one). Here's my (Johnny) personal example. A house I wanted to buy was 300K. I waited and moaned and groaned and thought and thought. Now, 6 months later it's not even built yet and is going for 320K. That's 20 grand for nothing! David Bach was the first one at a condo site here in Seattle. He committed to purchasing a 500K condo, with a downpayment of 70K due in 3 months. When he came back, a similar condo 3 floors DOWN was now going for 800K. Takes money to makes money, and that's about 300K... for 3 months of nothing. If he rents that bad boy, they will be paying his ~400K mortgage for him, happy to have an 800K condo for such low rent. Meanwhile, he can sell that place at any time for more than 800K. What does he get? 800K + whatever was paid in rent - 500K. Dayumn.

What brings you joy?

Find what makes you happy and try to focus on that rather than money. Having no money makes you miserable, but having lots of money won't make you happy. You need to know what you want.

Give something back

Try to make the world a better place. (nice guy :)

We then asked some questions:

Apparantly there exists some law where if you sell your property and use the profit to invest or buy more property, then the profit you made off selling the first place is tax free. At least that's what I think was said. Could be a US thing, could be a B.S. thing ;)

The numbers worked something like this:
If you are unmarried and personally live in a place for more than 2 years, then anything up to 250K profit can be used tax free to invest in more property.

If you are married, that amount goes to 500K.

Yeah, property is good, but if I'm just cutting my daily latte expenses, I won't have enough cash for a residence for a long time. What do I do with that?

It depends on how much time you want to lock that money in for. See http://www.sharebuilder.com/ for index and mutual fund info, http://www.morningstar.com/ or http://www.dodgeandcox.com/ for balance fund info, or good ol' ING Direct for money market info.

A good financial planner will:
1. Charge you
2. Be managing at least 50M
3. Have at least 5years experience, 10+ is better. It's a tough game

You can borrow from you 401(k) plan!

You have to pay back with interest, but that money is going to YOU anyway! There are details involved. Read your owner's manual.

Leverage your real estate!

Think of this.
You get a $200K condo for a $10K down payment. Then rent it out for whatever your expenses are. If (and when) the value goes up, say a minor 10%, The condo is woth 220K. Now, remember you didn't pay 200K for the condo. You invested 10K. So what do you have? 200% return on investment, that's what! You got 20K for investing 10K.

But renters are risky.. people suck!

Yeah, good renters... they can be found, but it takes work.
Check their Credit scores and Criminal Record.

All these points have to be fleshed out a little bit before you actually do invest, but it was only a 45 minute talk.

Does it all sound to simple? Yeah. David's best line of the day:
It's simple, not easy

Continue reading David Bach @ Amazon.com ...

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

I met the Jeff

I finally got to meet Jeff Bezos. Really nice guy with a strong, solid vision. My first ever picture with a rich/famous/brilliant guy!

The Proposal

I only plan to do this once....

It finally happened. I asked the wonderful Noelia to marry me. She accepted. YAY!

So the big question I've been getting from many people is "so so so how'dYouDoIt?" I hope to give the story justice here.

Before leaving Seattle, I spent 4 hours making a pretty reasonable facsimile of a clue from The Amazing Race. They folks at CBS had ignored my attempts to acquire a real clue. My copy looked remarkably close to the real thing. More on the contents of the clue later ;)

It was early morning on Christmas Day, 2004. I went downstairs and assembled a HUGE 4 foot cube of a box. This thing was massive. I then proceeded to fill over 50 balloons with helium, and carefully placed them inside the box. I got 10 red balloons and tied them to red ribbons, attached the clue to the ribbon, and then attached the ribbon to the bottom of the box. I then closed and wrapped the box. It took three rolls of wrapping paper:

The box

The clue on the ribbons

Noelia and her family came over at about 1:30 and we began to open our Christmas gifts. Noelia had an inkling that I had gotten her some sort of exercise machine or something.. what else can be in such a big box? When the time came, she opened the box, and the balloons came rushing out. Then the red balloons came up, with the clue in tow. She opened the clue. It was a detour, and read "A detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In this detour, you have to choose between safe and dangerous". Omitting personal details, the two possible tasks were as follows. In safe, she was to close the clue, and have a nice day. In dangerous, I had a nice little declaration of love, concluded by the request to turn around. There was Johnny on one knee with the ring.

The open box, the clue, and the happy couple

Maybe not Hollywood flavour, but it was enjoyed by all, and Noelia loved it.

Continue reading The Proposal ...

Monday, February 14, 2005

Da Crew

Some pictures of the crew. Each of these people deserve a nice, long blog entry... but who knows when I'll get around to that! Coming up: The Proposal, Long Distance relationships, and Definition of Success. Stay tuned :)

Swiss Chalet / Train / Gossip / Life Crew

Me and Lee-Anne

Me and Jason

Where's the one of me and Paul? Grrr stupid CF card that I got from a friend caused an error. It is gone :(

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Go Ahead, Get Dirty

"When you grow up, you will work with your head", mom said with a smile of satisfaction on her face. "You won't have to struggle as much as we did."

As a child, I watched my parents go to work, dissatisfied with their jobs, but doing them because they needed money for the family. My grandfather spent a lot of time at work and then at his farm, and he always ached for some reason. Going to school, university or more, was the big plan for Johnny. He'll work, and come home clean and well dressed and well paid and satisfied. "Don't be like us; make something for yourself".

So that I did. I went to Waterloo and got myself a CS degree. I was interested in computers as a kid and I enjoyed problem solving. Computers seemed like fun and when I discovered I can get paid to work with them, I decided on it as a career path. It was fortunate that CS seems like a seemed safe, smart and solid career path - my parents were all over it.

I like my job. Amazon is a fantastic place to work, and my coworkers are awesome. But y'know, there's a piece of life that is missing.

I love to work with my hands on occasion. I like the to feel the grass and dirt on the farm. About 7 months ago I went to my grandfather's farm again... for the first time in what felt like eternity. It was actually 8 months. We had the unenviable task of moving a shack made of cinderblock about 280 metres. My grandfather had rented the land out to another farmer, and the location of the shack was making it impossible to process some land, which would cost the renting farmer about $200 worth of produce. To keep the deal at my grandfather's rate, we moved the shack.

It was an early 6am morning, followed by a one hour drive. When we got there, however, I felt like I was in the arms of God. There's something immensely beautiful about nature. I don't care how pretty Mac OSX is; it can't compete with nature. It was a bright morning, and the grass was about knee high.

The task at hand was a heavy one; we had to disassemble the shack block by block, load them onto the truck, and reassemble the whole structure. It was heavy work, and my hands were no longer accustomed to working with any material other than a plastic keyboard. It had been about 5 years since the good ol' days at the bleach factory. I have had all technical jobs since then.

We were done in about 6 hours. At that point, we stood back and enjoyed our accomplishment. I was quite pleased with myself. The end result was shoddy at best. We made no attempt to level the land under the shack, nor did we apply mortar.

I was dirty, aching and tired, but ohhh did it feel good to have some locomotion in my work. I don't actually move too much in my professional life. I sit at a desk, and try to tell the computer what to do. It's challenging and rewarding, and I love it, but it doesn't get the blood going. The connection with nature was phenomenal. I worked with concrete blocks, but was surrounded by life. My grandfather and I just walked around the farm for a while to appreciate the wonders of life. It was very therapeutic.

I encourage all of you who work in an office or some other location like that to at least try to get out and do something with your hands. Experience nature. Enjoy the sunset. Start a small garden. Stop outside and feel the sun shine on your face. Stop and smell the roses. Take a 10 second pause from the tasks of life, and enjoy life. At least try it when you can. It's a simple pleasure that just may get you a new hobby. The world is being covered in concrete, and concrete is forever.