Reading Time: 2 minutes A common question for software developer is to be an employee (full time, perm) or be an contractor (W-2, or 1099). Strictly speaking the 1099 is more like a small business, and I have not done it personally. I heard some experienced people did the 1099; I will share if I have that exp. down

stlplace
July 31, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes I decided to switch my wireless carrier again, from H2O wireless to Ting. I stayed with H2O for over a year, mostly satisfied, except recently I started using its per minute data, which seems burn my money quickly. I heard about Ting from friend before, but I forgot to do the referral. 🙁 Anyway I

omaha
July 28, 2016

Reading Time: < 1 minute I used to listen APM: Market Place (NPR) and the Nightly Business Report (PBS => CNBC). I was a business news junkie, and was into stock market. I also listened to a more in-depth podcast: the weathtrack by Consuelo. More recently, I expanded my podcasts a bit, as you can see from below. NPR hidden

stlplace
July 17, 2016

Reading Time: < 1 minute Followed this instruction move away from bluehost; and move domain into godaddy. Most instructions are accurate, except one needs to ping pong couple times, started from bluehost first, then at godaddy website, after that I received email from godaddy asking about the transfer, go ahead and use the information in the email to start the

stlplace
July 11, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes Talking about tests exams and realized I made a big mistake, this happens quite often when I was in middle school. My solution to that was not talk about or think about it after a test. But that did not work for Gaokao. As we had to estimate how we did after the test, then

omaha
July 6, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes 十几年前我回国在上海一般就住一个如家或锦江之星,挑一个离地铁比较近的酒店,这样上班办事都比较方便。那时候没有小孩,旅馆主要就是睡个觉,干净清爽就可以了。快进几年,有了两个小孩,住的酒店要求也稍有提高。托酒店信用卡促销的福,攒了些点数或是free nights, 我也升级了住的旅馆。在上海常住的旅馆有,徐家汇的万丽酒店(courtyard Shanghai xujiahui), 她家所在的楼叫西藏大厦,出租车司机如不清楚可提这个名字。另一家是浦东的喜来登福朋酒店(four points by Sheraton, Shanghai pudong, 又叫由由酒店,楼的名字),注意她家旁边有喜来登酒店(Sheraton Shanghai pudong, 5 star vs four points 4 star), 不要搞错。这两家的房间起价大概是800人民币左右。 最近一次有幸住了回陆家嘴的柏悦酒店(park hyatt),这个标价是大概300多美金,我用的是hyatt卡的开卡free nights. 看了下用chase ultimate rewards points 的话是2万点一晚。小孩很喜欢,因为有一些没见过的features. 我的头被淋浴喷头砸了一下。Uncle Major 进大观园。:-) 在美国最近住Hampton inn 比较多。还是觉得Hampton inn 接地气一些。这家Hilton 系列的中档酒店设计简单,实用,且包早餐。一般我这样小兵级别的人出差就住它家。对有小孩的家庭包早餐是一个挺有用的feature. Other hotels have similar feature include Hilton garden inn, holiday inn express and clarion. Last but

omaha
July 4, 2016

Reading Time: < 1 minute 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

omaha
July 3, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes 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

stlplace
June 21, 2016

Reading Time: 1 minute 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

omaha
May 10, 2016
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