Categories
advice and tips fun

Back from first Disneyland trip

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.

Categories
advice and tips fun

Christmas thoughts: gift giving

It’s that time of the year again: a lot of shopping or sales, more online than offline, givings in kids school and at work place, bells outside local Schnucks, gift cards, Christmas trees and decrorations, happy holidays or merry Christmas, red cups or white cups. I know I know I won’t go there. 

Gift giving is always fun, as I get older (hopefully wiser too 🙂 I appreciate more giving than receiving. Actually I barely receive anything 🙂 That is fine. I have pretty much what I need. I have a Toyota Camry, that’s sufficient. Although I want a BMW. See I am applying my daughter’s school lesson here 🙂 

One interesting thing I noticed the other day is at my daughter’s school, they are doing a socks drive for the homeless. And they put an art work saying “donate socks for the poor”. I know I know that’s a poor choice of word, the right word should be “less fortunate”. But I will let go this one, kids have good intentions and they are still learning 🙂

Another interesting thing is sometimes people strongly hinted for gifts. That’s ok as long as someone does a good job, or I feel not forced to give. I remember one time (not holiday season) a teenager asked for money outside Schnucks, I have one dollar, and she asked for more 🙁 

I realized tip or gift is a meaningful amount of people’s income in Christmas season more than 10 years ago. A coworker told me how much he gave tips to bartender he usually goes to. A former gymnastics teacher told me about all the gift cards he received and the feeling of being appreciated. That’s the good dynamics I like to see when giving gifts. 

Gift cards seems getting popular these days. It does give more flexibility for recipient to avoid gift receipt, hassle of return to store etc. My problem with the gift card is it’s hard to track them, or locate them. Like today, I was going to use my target e-gift card. It took me 10, 15 mins to locate the URL on iPhone. It’s under the menu button of the mobile website. I also have a google docs to put in my unused gift cards. $10 dominos, $15 buffalo chicken wing. A lot of effort. I also flag the email message that contains the card. I wish eventual I can have it in one place. Maybe it’s an iPhone or Apple Watch app idea? Let’s see 🙂

Merry Christmas (or happy holidays) everyone! 

Categories
advice and tips finance

Booked air ticket to China using United miles and Chase UR points: some tips

I used the UA miles for my own ticket, it’s not UA saver economy all the way, but I felt it’s ok. The full ticket price was about $1100, and I spent 115000 miles (80k + 35k). Since I was short for about 1200 miles, initially I was worried shell out $75 for those miles, but my Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points came to rescue, I did 2000 miles transfer, and it completed the transfer instantly.

Some tips looking for mileage ticket
Initially I thought all the tickets were out as I searched a few months ago, and could not find any for the date I wanted. This time when I search, it showed me the ticket was available for Tuesday instead of Saturday. Since I also need to buy tickets for my wife/kid, I checked the ticket price on Expedia too (United website was not always working). And I found a ticket/schedule could work in both cases. The only downside is the start time was a bit early (5am), but it’s still manageable. So I did all 3 purchase in a hurry, and by doing that I left out the “lap child” my younger daughter.

Buy award ticket for the right person
Today when I tried to add her, since I only have an award ticket, I could not. And probably due to I bought my wife’s ticket via Expedia, it took almost 2 hours to add my younger daughter. So lesson learned here, next time I should use award ticket for my older daughter. Another reason is the miles accumulated will be more meaningful for me instead of her (I could accumulate miles by flying the China round trip). But anyway, I am going to get Frequent Flyer number for my older daughter, since she is starting travel with us. Actually next week we are travelling to Disneyland, so she will earn some miles in Southwest.

Chase Sapphire with Ultimate Rewards
BTW, if you are interested in getting Chase UR points, it has 50,000 points promotion as of now. I’d appreciate if you could use my referral. More details below.

INVITE FRIENDS TO EXPERIENCE CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED® …
RECEIVE 5,000 BONUS POINTS

FOR EACH FRIEND
who gets and uses the card, up to 50,000 bonus points
Let your friends experience the exceptional rewards and service you enjoy by recommending Sapphire Preferred. They’ll get a welcome offer.

Here’s how it works:
1. INVITE YOUR FRIENDS.
You can invite as many friends as you want by February 5, 2016.1
2. SHARE THE REWARDS.
Each friend will receive an offer for 50,000 bonus points after they spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
3. REWARD YOURSELF.
Receive up to 50,000 bonus points. You’ll get 5,000 bonus points for each friend – up to ten friends – who gets and uses their card.

Here is the ultimate plug from me, if you use my referral and I receive 5,000 points, I will split the bonus with you, via a $25 Amazon GC or other GC of your choice (email delivery only). Sent email to minjie.xu@gmail.com to get started.

Continue reading “Booked air ticket to China using United miles and Chase UR points: some tips”
Categories
fun kids

Timing

Serenity has 2 birthday party invitation today. Because we already agreed going to the first one, we cannot back out although serenity told us she wanted going to the second. She even says she likes gymnastics now. When did that happen? Last I recall I had to drag her to the gymnastics class, not literally, but her fear on the beam was real. 

Things change as time goes though. That fear on gymnastics was 2 years ago. She may have overcome this now. Another example is I saw from kids math test. I volunteered at this program called math facts scholars. One thing I noticed, is 1st grade kid usually does the addition/ subtraction more proficient than kindtergardeners. It’s not across board, as I saw some K kids do very well too. But I can sense as kids progress in school, they just feel more confident on math and numbers. Again timing is important. Sometimes I was thinking is it worth to make K kids struggle while if we wait 6 month or 1 year, she/he will do it with ease? How about learning piano? Or ice skate? Or swim? I am just thinking out loud. 

Categories
advice and tips

Move WordPress from Share Hosting to DigitalOcean

(Original 11-12-2015)
I decided to give cloud server another try, after my failed attempt to move WordPress from shared hosting to Amazon AWS last year. This time I go with DigitalOcean as I heard good things from my friend Don (who made this cool makeyourcase site and api).

Decision choosing Apache or Nginx
I chose Nginx over Apache due to 2 reasons:
1) I had fairly bad experience running Apache web server on Amazon tc2 micro instance last year. It was fighting for resources with MySQL server;
2) I saw Nginx getting popular recently. And it must have its own strength (performance, scale better). Did read Apache vs Nginx: Practical Considerations.

Some tips and tricks
1) Need to fix the extension for php in nginx setting. Follow this instruction will help, for php the key is the location setting below:

location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}

2) I found again I could not update the plugins after the move, found again this is due to file permission problem. After I grant the correct file permission to wp-content folder, it appears update plugin fine (kebo twitter plugin). Actually the initial problem was the twitter feed was not showing, which leads me to the plugin update. In the process I also changed the twitter feed.

3) A related problem is I went to this maintenance page, after I started updating a bunch of plugins. It appears stopped at the “related post” plugin.

Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.

The fix was to delete the .maintenance file in the website root folder (refer to this thread at wordpress site)

Useful links
WordPress
How To Install WordPress with Nginx on Ubuntu 14.04

How To Install Linux, nginx, MySQL, PHP (LEMP) stack on Ubuntu 14.04

Virtual host
How To Set Up Nginx Server Blocks (Virtual Hosts) on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Host name (DNS)
How To Set Up a Host Name with DigitalOcean

Migrate
How To Migrate WordPress from Shared Hosting to a Cloud Server with Zero Downtime

Ubuntu initial setup
Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 14.04

Additional Recommended Steps for New Ubuntu 14.04 Servers (think security 🙂

How To Add Swap on Ubuntu 12.04

In general, I think those articles/tutorials above made the job of newbie’s much easier. For me personally I have some UNIX/Linux/Mac experience (and concept), but I’ve never done system admin job full time. Those instructions made my life much easier.

Overall impression 
I spent about total 3 hours to spin up the Linux server, MySQL and nginx web servers, install and set up WordPress, and move site from shared hosting to droplet. The next step is to see the reliability of this setup, if everything is ok, I plan to move stlplace.com to here.

(Update 12-02-2015)
Started working on moving stlplace.com from shared hosting to droplet. That site is about 10 times bigger because it has my 10 years blogs. Encountered a few problems shown below. Was able to overcome so far. It’s up and running and let’s see if the droplet will hold up 🙂

1) Moving of mysql database: from my past experience, direct export via phpmysqladmin won’t work. I tried command line approach again. Note I tried the .gz file format as well, but it failed during import (may due to my data problem in the old mysql db). But regular .sql importing worked.

2) The permanent links stopped working, after looking at the php setting for nginx, file (folder) permission, finally I was able to compare this with uudaddy.com, and found I miss this line for /etc/nginx/sites-available/stlplace.com :
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?q=$uri&$args;

After adding this line, the permanent links worked.

The remaining task is to make Chinese characters show properly. I encountered this problem last time when moving it to Amazon AWS. Luckily I found this life saver from wordpress.org (I kind of sensed it as I read from the old wp-config.php, I something much simpler, it does not have the following 2 lines):
======
Not encoding – collation.
In the newer version of WP the config file has two new lines:

define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8’);
define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);
If it is an upgrade, delete those two lines!
======

Last but not least, I found I could not update the plugin again after installation. After much try and error, trying to emualte uudaddy.com setup (which works), I found this article on digitalOcean about setup wordpress FTP user/keys for update. I followed along and was able to made it work as desired.

(Update 12-03-2015) I also moved a small wordpress site (happymandarin) from shared hosting to droplet. The one obstacle here was I manually changed the ‘siteurl’ and ‘home’ of wp_options table from happymandarin.stlplace.com (this is a legacy of shared hosting feature) to www.stlplace.com/happymandarin. Btw, this is my wife’s site.

(Update: sometime in the early part of 2019, likely between Apr to June) I updated the ubuntu from 14 to 16, in the process I also upgraded the PhP version. Had to do a small fix (change) to make sure the php continues to work on nginx side.

(Update 03-14-2020 Pi Day) I moved the uudaddy.com wordpress site under stlplace.com/uudaddy. There was some small technical challenges, but the steps are similar to the one above. I also found out the wordpress update (one click update) prompt me to the annoying ftp credentials. It seems the digital ocean article above (2013) no longer works. I changed the folder ownership from wp-user:wp-user to www-data:www-data, as well as adding this line define(‘FTP_METHOD’, ‘direct’ ); to wp-config.php , now the one click update seems to work. Not sure if it will have any other issues for example, upload a picture in wordpress etc. I will update as time goes.

Btw, the reason I moved uudaddy.com (not renewing the domain) is mainly for consolidation. The godaddy.com asks for $18 for domain per year. It seems to me it’s a bit overpriced. My stlplace.com domain expires in 2022. That’s the only dependency I have for godaddy. For some tech people, it seems Godaddy does not have high reputation.

Also, how to get free ssl cert.

Categories
fun

I like the driving with Serenity on board

I continue to be Serenity’s weekend activity driver these days. I like spending time with her, esp. when she asked me questions when we go to COCA for her ballet class: it’s about 15 minutes one way, and it’s Sunday afternoon, so it’s not as busy.

These days she like to say something, usually some facts or something she recently learned, then ends with “right, daddy?”. Most of times she was right, and I would say yes to some not to critical/important questions anyway. I think from her perspective, she likes to get “ok” or some form of approval/agreement from grown-up like me.

It’s funny I recall she likes to chat during our KinderMusik at JCC Chesterfield (about 15 to 20 minutes drive) in the past. It’s usually better than 5 or 10 minutes drive in terms of the quality of conversation.

Kids grew up fast. I enjoyed talk to them esp. when I don’t have to discipline them. Those sweet talks, sometime before her bedtime.

One thing is besides the constant iPhone staring, we do have the memory in photos: for example Google Photo reminds me what we did a year ago with Serenity, at Beirne Park or something. And we have this blog. I know there is very few readers, but I do read it such as Serenity is 100 days old, etc. as Sophia is the new baby, she is 14.5 half months old now.

Categories
advice and tips finance

A few Checking account promotions

(Update 11-05-2015) Citibank Gold Checking account offer: 50,000 AA miles or 50,000 ThankYou Points (doctorofcredit has a detailed explanation and step-to-step guide). This seems like good deal even consider $90 monthly fees (3 months). Also, a top on checks. Sometimes it cost money to get beginning checks for a checking acct. One way to workaround is to use PayPal as a conduit. I recall I used it long time ago when I sold stuff on ebay. Almost forgot about it as I have not done it for years. One drawback compared to check is PayPal is a bit slower because it adds a layer.

(Update 10-16-2015) Two more checking account offers. Santander and TD Bank (expired 11/05/2015, per hustlermoneyblog). Both offers $150 for opening account and direct deposit for (Santander), 15 debit transactions for TD Bank.

(Update 10-08-2015) Hunnington Bank is doing a $200 checking account offer. Here’s all it takes to get your $200: Open a new Huntington 5 Checking account using the link below by November 24, 2015. Make at least $1,000 in deposits within 60 days of account opening. It’s really that simple. We’ll then deposit $200 into your new account within 14 days of meeting the requirements. Read more about waiving monthly fee from here. (hint: $5000 account balance for one). Also note: This offer is only available to online applicants residing in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia.

(Update 10-01-2015) More checking account opening bonus, this one from First Tennessee Bank, offers ends on Oct 31st, 2015. “To receive your bonus, you must open the checking account online and ensure the code ONLINE appears in the online application where “Offer/Promo code” is requested. You must have an opening deposit of at least $300, and at least one direct deposit must post to your account within 60 days of account opening…” (11-03-2015) I received their bonus shortly after meeting their requirement. That’s fast 🙂

Also useful links: Doctor of Credit List Of Methods Banks Count As Direct Deposits (not super scientific, but still useful if one plan to use Paypal instead of employer paycheck); My Money Blog Applying for Multiple Bank Accounts: Can You Apply For Too Many?

(Original 09-27-2015)
Fifth Third Bank
53 Bank offers $150 for opening Checking account with qualifying activities. Link here. Note this is direct link (not affiliated link, in other words I am not taking any commision from the bank. Same below). Qualifying activity includes three online bill payments, using Fifth Third Bank’s online bill payment service, and direct deposit. Don’t know when the offer will ends. Last time I got a $200 offer from them and enrolled at the last day (July 26, 2015). They were very quick to deposit the bonus money after I met their requirement.

Note: Fifth Third Bank will also donate $150 to “Stand Up to Cancer”. Keep in mind there are many cancer related charity ripoffs according to Anderson Cooper, it seems SU2C is legit.

BMO Harris
Back to topic. BMO Harris is doing $200 offer for new checking account with direct deposit. Link here. Offer (account opening) is valid between July 27, 2015 and January 22, 2016. (11-3-2015) Just opened an Everyday Checking account with them today.

PNC Bank
PNC is offering up to $400 for opening new checking account with qualifying direct deposit. Offer ends 12/31/2015. Link here. (11-3-2015) I received their bonus about 28 days after meeting their requirement.

Notes:
1) The bonus overall is not as general as some credit card offer (more than $500 opening bonus with qualifying spending). But keep in mind opening credit card usually means a hard pull on credit record, while opening checking account does not. One thing keep in mind is one has to be US citizen or permanent resident for opening checking accounts, due to the new laws and regulations in this new era.

2) Also the bonus from checking account will usually reported as interest income or ordinary income. It will be taxed when we file the tax next year, this is different from the credit card promotion, which usually billed as rebate or points (and there is no tax implication).

Categories
advice and tips finance fun

A map (or a chart) is worth a thousand words

airlines miles award chart

Complete map of Starwood SPG hotels

award map (hotels points and map)

British airways avios map

Car rental primary insurance

PS (09-24-2015): booked Westin Lake Las Vegas via BA Avios points. It cost about 11,000 points for the premium room ($81 + taxes). The room there starts at 7,000 SPG points, note 7,000 points is for traditional room (I got a premier double room). I feel it’s a decent deal as SPG points are usually worth more.

Westin Lake Las Vegas

PS2 (09-25-2015): more hotels booking. Last night I also booked Hilton Anaheim both via BA Avois (about 18,000 points) and Chase Ultimate Rewards (about 10,500 points). The hotel was very close to Disneyland. And today I booked one more night Hilton Anaheim via Chase UR (now we have 3 nights total), it seems the UR points for the hotel increased overnight, but the dollar price stayed the same. The next step is to get the Disneyland (and California Adventure) tickets booked.

Hilton Anaheim

PS3 (09-26-2015)
Other nearby hotels, both cost HHonors 20,000 points : Double Tree Anaheim (this one does not have free breakfast, parking cost is similar to the Hilton above, about $16 per day).

Double Tree Anaheim

Another one: Hampton Inn Los Angeles-Orange County-Cypress. Hampton Inn has free parking and breakfast compared to Double Tree. It’s a bit farther away from Disneyland.

hampton inn los angeles orange county Cypress

Categories
advice and tips finance iOS

Discover Apple Pay 10% cash back until end of year

With $10000 as spending limit. The prerequisite: iPhone 6, 6+, 6s, 6s+; iOS 9; in store purchase, no giftcard.

Stores support Apple Pay

Here in St. Louis, Schnucks, Dierbergs, WalGreens, St. Louis Bread Co. (Panera Bread) all supports Apple Pay. Though on Sept. 17 I tried at Schnucks counter, it failed, note this is the 2nd day of Discover Apple Pay launch, so it could be a glitch. It worked on Panera Bread (Sept 18, 19). I will also try Trader Joe’s as I saw it’s coming soon from the Apple website.

Why iOS 9 for Apple Pay
It’s a bit more security. Previously one can add a card to Apple Pay just from the physical card. So basically if a card is stolen, technically it can still be added. Obviously the card issuer usually has fraud detection system in place to catch those. But iOS add a two factor authentication when adding a new card, which is definitely a great idea. We catch the problem earlier this way. A thief cannot add a stolen card as easily as it used to be.

Btw, I saw the fingerprint based authentication get popular as BoA app and other apps (e.g., Apple’s own iTunes connect) use that for authentication. Save some typing work and more security.

(Update 09-20-15) It appears Discover Apple Pay still does not work on local Schnucks store. It prompts “do you want cash back”, I said “No”, then the transaction got declined. Something at a miss at Schnucks or their payment processor. Because it does work at Panera (St. Louis) Bread since Sept 18. I guess one way to test it is to swipe Discover Card directly to see if it works 🙂

(Update 09-25-2015) Used Apple Pay with Discover at Subway for lunch today, it worked flawlessly.

(Update 09-27-2015) Worked in Trader Joe’s too.

(Update 11-07-2015) Discover Apple Pay works in Schnucks now. 

Categories
advice and tips finance

Fuel Rewards Network, eBates

Fuel Rewards Network offers about 1% for shopping online, e.g., I bought $36 worth of clothes from Load and Taylor via their shopping mall, it gave me 10 cent. The calculation goes like this: $36 * 3 / 1000 = $0.108 rounded down to $0.10 which is 10 cent per gallon gas discount. If I buy 10 gallon of gas, that’s $1.00 discount. $1 divide by $36 which comes out by 3%. Note typically shopping mall earning rate is 1 instead of 3, so in the example above, I will earn 3.6 cent per gallon gas discount, instead of 10 cent.

Another example, I shopped at gap via FRN, bought $50 apparel. It gave me 10 cent also (2x earning rate instead of 3x at L&T). This is lower than the gap rebate one can get from ebates right now (typically 2%, now at 8%). I mean 3% or 2% vs. 8%. So the bottom line is we can use this calculation to maximize the cash back (rebate).

Btw, FRN is free to join, and as a minimum it offers 3 cent discount for gas purchase, so in other words about 1% in addition to whatever the credit card offers (in my case, I use Sams Club mastercard or the Pentagon Reward visa, both offer 5% cash/points back).

Back to the topic, I think it’s worth to join FRN since we already spend money on shopping or dining, and those activities adds up to gas savings, in addition to the regular credit card cashback/points we get. Don’t spend to get the points though 🙂

(Update 09-20-15) Other two ways I got discount for gas purchase. I use both Sam’s Club MasterCard and PenFed Rewards visa card, both gives 5% cash (points) back, which is unlike some of those rotational 5% reward cards (e.g., Chase Freedom, Discover Cash Bonus). Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of those quarterly rotational promotion. This is also higher than 3% cashback from Amex Costco Card. PenFed also offers 3% for supermarket and grocery shopping. And Sam’s Club MasterCard offers 3% on restaurant purchase.