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.
(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 🙂
I purchased a $100 Circle K gas gift card via eBay a few weeks ago, a few days ago I started to use it, and I found the initial balance is $75 instead of the $100 as advertised. See below, I spent $12.xx on the gas (imagine that a few years ago), and I saw $62.xx remaining.
So I was worried the card is stolen, and I filed a claim on eBay and whined about it on wechat. This afternoon I decided to cash out the card via other gift card, and to my surprise, it has the correct value: after I bought $75 other gift card, it still has $12.xx remaining. I was wrong. The reason I worried it could be stolen is I saw people talked about stolen gas card (same brand), and it’s not too hard to crack a 16 digit code.
You may wonder why I just pay credit card for gas, and go through the trouble of buying gas gift card, and had to use it at a specific store, also keep track of balances. Well, there is some savings, to be short. Basically I can get some rebate via eBates (going to eBay), I also get some eBay bucks, plus sometimes I buy $100 eBay GC at $95. Last but not least, I paid $95 for $100 gas card. So the savings add up. I spent somewhere between $85 and $87.5 for a $100 gas card. On the other hand, nothing is truly free, with the savings comes with risk. I think from now on, I will stick to credit card: this quarter I can use either Chase Freedom/Discover Cash Bonus for 5% cash/points back, and in normal times I could use the Sam’s Club MasterCard, which also gives 5% cash back (in a check issued once a year).
I have covered sleep, walk (exercise), today I am going to talk about the good we eat. As I came to the US about 18 years ago, I recall a friend and a fellow Chinese graduate student once said: food, sleep and exercise are 3 key elements of being healthy. This was very relevant as we were both new to this country, and trying to adjust to everything in the US. For most Chinese students and coworkers in my era, I understand our main food is still Chinese food (rice, stir fry, etc.). Many Chinese coworkers bring lunch to work. I do that sometime too. Also, as I was aging, I started to pay more attention to breakfast. This is different from when I was in graduate school or new to work. I think in about 2005 since I moved to my current condo, there is one Panera Bread (St. Louis Bread Co.) in walking distance, and I started to enjoy the bagel and coffee in the morning. Two reasons I got coffee there instead of brewing my own, or get it at work: 1) The coffee there is good or better; 2) I just get one cup and that’s done, trying to control the caffeine intake.
That bagel habit stuck to me for almost 10 years now. I passed that habit to my old daughter Serenity. She started eat bagel as a toddler. I tried bagels and bread from other places too, e.g, bagels from Einstein bagels and bagel factory (New York Style water bagel). They are different from Panera’s (Panera are more sweet or sugary).
For lunch, I bring my own lunch more often these days. But I usually go out to eat if I join a new place new. From Fazoli’s (fast Italians), Panera Bread, Chick-fil-a, to Culvers (midwest hamburgers), to most recently Picklman’s (sandwich). I usually stick to one thing for a long time before exploring. For example, I recall eat their grilled sandwich until one day I found there is a bug in the lettuce. Then I switched to Pastas, etc. For Panera, I started with Frontega Chicken panini. Later on I expanded to their soup and salad. Chick-fil-a is always good, I usually got their calendar each year ($7), which pays itself quickly with monthly free food/drink. I visited Culver’s the first time when I visited a client at Rockford, IL, which is close to Wisconsin (Culver’s home state). I liked the buttery flavor of burgers. Picklman’s is a sandwich shop started in Show-me state (Columbia, MO, where Mizzou is), I liked their Italian beef sandwich. Since that I have not gone back to Subway. 🙂 I was never big on lunch at work place. I recall at one time I did eat a few times at Unigroup cafeteria, their food is fair and cheap. Probably because they don’t pay people as well as other places 🙂 They only take cash. At current place, I only been there a few times, and all I got was pizza.
I think it’s important to get some breaks during the work. There are a lot of studies and real world examples that people sit before computer or desk all the day, and damage being done to their backs, necks, shoulders, elbows and hands. Thus the popularity of adjustable height desk so that people can choose to stand or sit during the work day. Both Marco Arment and Joel Spolsky did posts on the adjustable desk and ideal sit stance. Also noted Jeff larmarche did a post on a desk with walking treadmill. I think I will do another post on the desk topic some time, when I have more hands on experience on this topic. For me, I don’t have a luxury of setting up my desk most of the time, being it work at company office, or work from home (or Panera Bread, or Starbucks with laptop, which is a big no no according to Marco and David Smith’s “Ergonomics” podcast).
One thing I know I can do is to stand up and walk around. I walk all the time, all the places. In the good old days when I was working at earth city, I walked both after lunch and at around 3PM. I recall I walked with an older coworker a few times, and I could not catch his steps. So I stayed on my own pace. Not too slow though. According to many research, walking too slow is useless. I carried this habit when I worked from home in 2008~2010. At that time I had Blackberry, so I just need to carry it when I walk or occasionally joggling in the neighborhood. I carried this habit to a new company (a small one), and the project manager was not happy with it, I mean walk at 3PM habit. He made a hay out of this, so I only walked during lunch break (at Chesterfield mall, esp. in winter and summer). I like walking in the mall. Usually I walked two loops. Parked outside Macy’s. At Unigroup in Fenton I also walked during lunch break, at parking lot.
Then come to Arch Coal (note the company just filed bankruptcy today). The best benefits I got from Arch was the discount of JCC membership and company pays for 75% of the discounted membership fees. So I got the JCC membership the first time, I am still a member although I am paying the full price out of my own pocket. While I do swimming at JCC pool (mostly indoor, both Creve Coeur and Chesterfield), I also walk on treadmill. Those are two activities I do at JCC. I kept this habit even after I leave Arch Coal, when I worked at Weldon Spring or Mercy Health (Chesterfield and Sunset Hills). For Mercy I found a really nice trail at Laumeier’s Sculpture park. Also in summer 2013 I got a UP Jawbone band, since then I started to track my steps using pedometer. I am aware of 10,000 steps per day as doctor’s recommendation. But only when I get the Fitbit Charge my tracking and charting became more consistent.
These days I usually walk during coffee break, lunch break to get most of the steps during the day. If for some reason I did not get much opportunity to walk during walk (which means I sit too long), I will try to catch up at JCC or at home (late evening, weather permits). St. Louis’ winter temperature sometimes is not very forgiving. That’s when JCC comes to play. I will do swim, as swim usually consumes more energy and it exercise the whole body including arms.
Commute is a meaningful part of our work life, for me in my 15+ years work, I had commute most of time except in 2 cases: 1) I lived very close to work for 1 year; 2) I worked from home for 15 months. St. Louis rush hour traffic is not as bad as Los Angeles or Beijing, in my case my commute usually takes between 15, 20 min to 35 min (10 to 25 miles) one way. Also I am lucky in the sense I was against the traffic most the time.
![toyota camry 2012 blue](http://www.hybridcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Toyota-Camry-Hybrid-1213.jpg")
Listen
Initially I listened to NPR, e.g., morning edition, all things considered when driving, it helped my English listening comprehension. Since last June I listened more podcast or music for the 30+ min drive.
Accident
I got into one accident at riverport drive about 10 years ago. Someone went to work in a hurry at around 5 pm, and she hit me at red light. To make things worse, she drove away after the accident. The second day I was able to find her car, and called the police. But it does not help my out of pocket expense (insurance deduction), as she does not have insurance.
Car pool
I did car pool in 2 cases, both not long. Once I did it with my coworker, we took turns drive, I park my car at his place when he drove. The thing is he is an early person, I had to get up early for the car pool thing. Another time I car pooled with my roommate. He worked at another company at earth city. Another downside of carpool is when I don’t drive, I don’t have the car to go out for lunch, had to pack lunch, go to cafeteria or go to Burger King which is in walking distance.
Snow
Any significant snowfall will make the commute miserable. I caught into this once partially due to my poor judgement. I took I road I don’t drive normally, thought it would be less crowded. Dumb mistake. It was less travelled and the crew did not get to it, huge snow pile. Near my home I made the same mistake again, I tried to drive uphill, but my car slipped. I got some help from the people nearby and was able to drove over the hill. After couple more dumb mistakes trying to make short cuts and almost got the car stuck in snow, eventually I was able to make it almost home, I only needed one left turn on the drive way. And my car got stuck in snow. My neighbors tried to push the car, we still cannot get out. So we had to left the car there. After that incident I think I had much more respect on snow, in terms of its effect on driving. As one of my coworker said, highway 70 is a giant parking lot. True. We as human beings are just powerless in the face of Mother Nature, be it snow or flood. This Jan we just had a major flood in the area.
Remote work
A few years ago I did work from home for a full time job for 15 months. The results is mixed, I think it has both plus and minus. Working from home or flexible work has becoming more popular these days for many white collar jobs. Many companies support this idea and some form of remote work days. But as the way most companies setup and human interaction go, I think we still need to go to office and work with coworkers on some of the days. Not to mention many jobs that require people go to office. In other cases, working from home crowd sometimes miss the chitchat at office, and we have the co-working place popping up. So I think commute will still play an important role in our daily work life. As time goes we will have more fuel efficient cars, or maybe even driverless cars. In the latter case we can watch YouTube while go to work. Let the computer (or robot) do the driving 🙂
I was able to figure out how to put my work Dell laptop into sleep recently. The problem was that if I just unplug it from the docking station without put it into sleep, it will be on and usually runs out of battery in the morning, in other words it will needs reboot in the morning when I come to work. I figured out this one without googling: thought it may help if I push the power button on dock station before unplug, and it worked.
This and a minor thing about the good old UP jawbone band (have to push the sleep button to start record sleep), reminds me of the sleep issue for me from time to time. How I wish I could have a button when being pushed, and I could fall right into sleep 🙂
I recall the first time I wanted fall asleep but could not was at the time I would take high school exam the second day. I was at a good middle school and needed to score good enough to get into the same high school. Although I knew if I just do as I do usually, I should be good. But I was still nervous, deep in my heart, I knew getting into this high school means I am halfway into college (which is a big deal for me, because that means I will move from rural area to big city, and eventually work in office instead of work on farm). Similar thing happened to me before Gao Kao, the famous college exam (it was 3 days then), and I did not get much sleep in those 3 nights. I recall I did the same before GRE exam. So as the night before I board the airplane to the US, obviously I was not so certain how it will play out when I came here for study: a country seen only from movie before.
Fast forward, from time to time (not very often) I will get this sleep issue again, due to silly things at work. I recall in 2006, when I was in Shanghai work remote, I need to come up with a software bug fix. I worked really hard, thought about the problem hard, and could not fall asleep one night. Good thing I solved the problem the second day, and everybody was very happy. And I was too excited the second night to fall asleep 🙂
Another time (working for another company), the situation was not as nice. One afternoon, my boss called me (he rarely does, we all work from home), saying the project I delivered to customer was not good, they were not happy and they complained to my boss’ boss. Had to come up fix quickly, with unfamiliar code and so so economy. I lost sleep that night 🙂 I recall I also lost some sleep in the financial crisis, when the market turmoil made my 401k into 201k. I also had a small trading account, and I lost about $1200 on WAMU (Washington Mutual). That’s also the time I got most my grey hair (2008 to 2011). I still lost sleep due to work related issue in 2014/2015, sometimes I would check email from iPhone in the middle of the night as I was expecting something; sometimes check it just because it’s within the reach, then start thinking about work related things. One way to avoid this is to put iPhone somewhere not easy to reach (e.g., living room, this is a tip I learned from my former coworker).
Interestingly the stock market in Jan 2016 brings back the memories of dark days of 2008 (financial crisis), I saw the declining of 401k as well. But long term I am not that worried as I believe we will recover from this in a few years, similar to last time. So no need to lose sleep. Even for people who already retired, I think they should stay calm too. I believe some retired people lost faith last time around, and bailed out at the bottom, and did not get back in quickly, in doing this they lost a substantial amount of their retirement savings in 401k/IRA. It’s understandable because the depth of the financial crisis is almost unprecedented, but we should learn from the history and be rational about the market.
Pager Support (On-call)
The first pedometer was a freebie from McDonald, something like this one. I got two actually from the meals, and I lost both of them. Pretty sure I lost one during a flight. It’s easy to fall off because the clip to the belt is not very tight. Also keep in mind this does not sync with computer in anyway.
The second one, technically speaking, should be my iPhone 4, with the Pedometer app. I could no longer easily find the app by googling, and I sold the phone already. But pretty sure I did not pay attention to the daily steps in that app.
It was until I got the first “wearable”, the original UP Jawbone band, that I started pay attention to my daily steps. The goal was to hit 10,000. The first band died in about 9 months. It was still under warranty, so I got a replacement, something like the picture below. It also died a few months later. One inconvenience for this one was to sync, I had to plug it into the earphone jacket of iPad (or iPhone).
Since at that time, I already had iPhone 5s, and the Fitbit iOS app was decent. So I started using Fitbit app on ip5s. It’s good as long as I carry the phone when walking. In June 2015 I got a new phone, which does not have the sensor like ip5s. So I got a dedicated Fitbit Charge. I’ve used it with my Amazon Fire Phone (for sync the information). So far I am happy with the Charge.
(Update 01-14-2016) Asics@eBay Offers $75 Off $100 (at checkout). You can Mix and Match to reach $100 in total for your orders. Shipping is free. You can use ebates to get some cash back; you don’t have to use dealsea
(Original 01-01-2016) I used to work at a place near Laumeier Sculpture park. It has a very good trail 🙂 New year, new shoes.
Saucony Men’s Peregrine 5 Trail Running Shoe, Amazon is running a 50% off promotion today. Just ordered today (Amazon Jan 1st one day sale is over, Saucony website has sale of $82, vs. MSRP $110, $82 is compared to Amazon current price of $100). Btw, Amazon does an amazing shipping speed these days, I ordered the shoes on Jan 1st (Friday), and I got it on Jan 3rd Sunday morning. I know it’s Prime shipping (yes they reply on USPS for local delivery), but still much faster than I expected.
Merrell Moab Rover Waterproof, I got it when they have a $50 off Visa Checkout promo (not sure if this is still alive, but showbuy usually has some discount code). There is also a 20% off (Amex select offer) promo going on.
My take: I have timberland shoes. They are decent. But Merrell and Saucony upped one notch in their specific field: hiking for Merrell and running for Saucony. I also had Asics running shoes in the past, their build quality is just not as good.
It’s new year, and it’s time to hit trails or treadmills 🙂
for the kids. This is my second trip, and the first for my wife and two kids (5 and 1 year old). And we went there during its busiest time (Dec 23/24).
Some random thoughts:
1) I started to appreciate the quality, brand and customer service of Disneyland (and California Adventure) show, ride and parade. Note this is my second trip to Disneyland, the previous visit was 15 years ago, and it was a group bus tour so we had to leave at around 5 or 6pm (no time for the evening show or parade).
A small example is they have this job title of “stroller keeper”, basically there are usually a lot of strollers outside some popular rides, people come and go. The stroller keepers make sure the strollers are lined up, and the area is clean. Cannot think of any other places that have people specialized in strollers. Btw, for those who wish to rent a stroller, it’s at the park entrance (near Disneyland side), and one can pay either at the ticket counter or at the spot.
2) Scale of Southern California city: I read the hotel we stayed Hilton Anaheim is the largest hotel in southern california. And today I read from Wikipedia Anaheim has population of over 300,000, which will 6 times of Chesterfield (one of the largest suburban city in St. Louis area) if we compare two places. Not to mention Disneyland put Anaheim on the map (for that matter, maybe Los Angeles as well).
Some tips:
1) There are very little discount for 2 day tickets. I bought it form aRes, it gives about 1% off 🙂 The discount becomes more meaningful for 3 days or more tickets.
2) Stay and shuttle bus to Disneyland: some hotels offer free shuttle bus, not all. The hotel we stayed (Hilton Anaheim) does not offer hotel shuttle, but there is another bus (ART, stands for Anaheim Resorts Transit) which is fairly cheap ($5 for adult one day). Note many hotels are in walk distance (e.g., Hilton is about 25 mins’ walk). I did make a mistake by taking other hotel’s shuttle one night, and the driver graciously dropped us off near our hotel.
Breakfast: looking back I think I should probably book a place that offers free continental breakfast, e.g., SpringHills Suites). Hilton Anaheim does not have free breakfast for everyone, it appears they have it for HHonors Dimond and Gold members, I am just silver level. Note breakfast becomes important because it’s more expensive in the park, and for a lot of people, they don’t have a lot time eating well inside the park.
3) Food and meal: the food and drink inside in the park could be a bit expensive. There are workarounds, e.g., some people bring in some water or snacks. I think their official policy is no outside food or drink. But as long as people are reasonable, the staffs are the checkin desks are reasonable too.
4) Rides suitable for the young kids: there are many rides that are suitable for young kids. We did not do the famous rides such as California Screamin’, Soarin’ over California, “Splash Mountain”, “Indiana Jones”, “Star War Tours”, “HyperSpace Mountain”.
(Update 01-01-2016) Came across this article about Disneyland on Yahoo travel. Talking about the stress brought to parents in Disneyland, I recall one evening at California Adventure, I was so tired and by accident my stroller bumped into another stroller (and a lady was feeding a baby), and she was very upset. Not to mention, with all the travel, junk food, we all got sick after coming back from the trip. I think parents (grown-ups) really need to take a deep breath, and put things in perspective, not trying to complete all the rides, just try to relax and have a good time. In one sense, this is a bit like buffet, one really does not need to get stuffed (to get money worth), and then feel really comfortable. But human psychology usually does not work this way.