Chan's Personal Blog - Life

New Car

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:40:00 -0800

After more than two years without a car, I finally pulled the trigger last October and bought a car. It took me a while to finally build up enough credit and cash for a decent down payment. When I first started my research, I was looking at entry level cars such as a used Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla, but I wasn't too comfortable with the high mileages these cars had in my price range.

By August 2009, my circumstances changed a bit and I rationalized moving up from entry level cars to a little better. I generally dislike buying something, and having to upgrade it a year or two later. I planned to keep my car for at least five years, so that changed the equation a bit. With that time frame, hybrid vehicles started making sense because the gas you save from them will payoff the premium you pay up front for them. Hybrids are also a lot cheaper in California than in Victoria, so it seemed like a really good price as well. The geek in me also enjoys all the technology that they pack into hybrids; I have a much easier time understanding electronics in a car than its mechanical parts.

I had narrowed down my choices to a Mazda 3, Chevy Camaro, Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, and Nissan Altima Hybrid. The Camaro was the first to get dropped off my list because an American muscle car just doesn't suit me, it's way too flashy and I don't like coupes. I will admit it's a sweet ride though. The Mazda 3 was the next to get dropped from the list because at this point, I had my heart settled on a hybrid. If I wasn't after a hybrid, the Mazda 3 would be a worthy contender because the price was very reasonable, it came with a ton of features by default, and it's fuel efficiency was quite good.

You'll probably notice that the Toyota Prius is missing from the shortlist. I find the shape of the Prius quite ugly, and I really don't like the social connotations around owning a Prius. If you want an explanation, see this South Park clip entitled, "Smug Alert." Ideally, I wanted a hybrid car that looked like a normal car, and had a little power to it (might be a contradiction). In hindsight, it was also a good idea that I didn't go with Toyota since they're having quite a number of very severe problems with their breaks/accelerators which has caused the Camry and Prius to be recalled.

This was the shootout:

Car	Gas Engine + Electric Engine	Fuel Economy (city/hwy)	0-60mph	Hybrid Tax Credit	Dealer Incentives
Honda Civic Hybrid	110HP + 20HP = 130HP	40/45mpg	13.5s	$0	$0
Toyota Camry Hybrid	147HP + 40HP = 187HP	33/34mpg	8.2s	$0	$0
Nissan Altima Hybrid	158HP + 40HP = 198HP	35/33mpg	7.6s	$2350	$4500

The clear winner in the shootout was the Nissan Altima Hybrid due to the performance, tax incentives, and dealer incentives. It was cheaper for me to buy a new one than a used one. In addition, for the 2009 tax year, the stimulus package allowed me to deduct sales tax and registration fees for new vehicle purchases.

I went down to the dealership to do a test drive of the vehicle, and it was a pretty cool experience because it was the first time I had driven a hybrid. If you're driving steady, below 40mph (~64km/h), you can run purely on electric power. The car is practically silent when it's on electric. The car also had a continuous variable transmission (CVT) drive which meant you could accelerate the vehicle without feeling any shifts in the gears because there are no discrete gears. The car also had regenerative breaks which converts the car's kinetic energy to electric energy (to recharge the batteries) when you tap on the breaks. The car's range is also fairly impressive, I can drive 560miles (~900km) before having to fill up on gas. I fill up on gas once every 2.5 weeks.

There were a couple of cons about the Nissan Altima Hybrid though. First, the trunk is extremely small because part of the space is taken up by its battery pack. The other major disadvantage was that the car's options were very expensive because you had to buy them in bundles. Fortunately for me, I was more than happy with the base model, but if someone wanted to have GPS and leather seats, it got quite expensive.

The timing of my car purchase worked out really well. It was during their year end clearance sale, and they were trying to get rid of all of their 2009 models. Thankfully, the last Altima Hybrid on the lot was exactly the model and colour that I wanted. Next was the price, I had six Nissan dealerships competing against each other, and I managed to get the car at well below invoice price. I did all my negotiations via email, so by the time I walked into the dealership, it was a very easy and straight forward process since we had already agreed on a price. Nissan was also able to access my Canadian credit history from Nissan Canada, so that made the car loan possible.

Overall, it was a pretty good learning experience. I've discovered I'm a pretty good negotiator. Since my car purchase, I've helped negotiate car deals for two other friends.

Attached below is the picture of my car. I've dubbed it the Blackbird because it's a really stealthy car. Under 40mph, it doesn't make a lot of noise, and I can easily sneak up on unsuspecting pedestrians.

There's a funny story with this car during my road test for a California driver's license:

Instructor: Sir, please start your car.
Chan: Yeah, it's already started.
Instructor: No, I mean I want you to start the ignition of your car.
Chan: Yeah, the car's on, it's a hybrid. It's silent when we're idle.
Instructor: ?!?
Instructor: Oh wow, what does this button do?

For the rest of the ride he was just asking questions about the car instead of actually paying attention to the road test. Consequently, I only had three demerits .

Last funny story about the car. When I wrote my mom that I had purchased a new car, her response was, "remember to keep your car clean, son. Girls like clean cars." I'll have to keep that in mind.

Overall, I'm quite pleased. This is quite a step up from my last car which was a standard hungry grad student beater car. My last car was a Chevy with a ridiculous V6 engine which ate gas, it got 18/26mpg.

Empire Building

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:47:33 -0800

I've been thinking a lot about 2010, and the challenges, surprises, and joys that the this new year shall bring. But before I go over 2010, it's important to look back at 2009. If I had to summarize 2009 in a couple of words, I would probably choose uncertainty and defense. I recall at the beginning of that year, no one knew precisely how bad the recession was going to be; the chance of another great depression was still on the table. I know plenty of good people who were severely impacted by job loss and financial chaos.

At work there was another round of layoffs which added to the uncertainty. Job loss in my case would be fairly catastrophic since the work visa I'm on doesn't allow me to stay in the country if that were to happen; furthermore, my green card application was completely frozen because my company did a large layoff.

The strategic position I took in 2009 was defense. Hold the line and defend what you had. I completely stopped even looking at my investments in the stock market as there was a ton of damage; at the same time I didn't bother selling anything because I wasn't going to participate in panic selling. Instead I was just stockpiling cash so that I could live and fight another day when things started turning around.

2009 indeed presented a lot of challenges and there were plenty of tests of character. There were plenty of situations where doing the right thing carried a high cost with it. The quote that kept coming to mind was, "the right thing to do and the easy thing to do is rarely the same thing."

After much deliberation, the theme for 2010 will be empire building. Much of the first two years living in California, I really didn't know how long I would last out here. For those who've seen my apartment, you'll know that it looks like I could just pack up and leave on a whim. A finance guy doing paper work for me said it best when he said, "you're like a ghost, it's as if you don't exist." This year I am dropping some anchors in California because I've come too far to withdraw now. This is the year where hopefully a lot of long term investments start paying off. This is the year where I hopefully catch up to peers.

One of the more recent developments is that I purchased a car after saving for one quite some time (been car-less for a long time). You ask why? Canadian credit history counts for nothing in the US, so my credit score is fairly crappy in the US. This meant a significant down payment was required. In either case, added mobility and independence is going to save a lot of time. (Blog post later about the car).

Another cornerstone of empire building is obviously finances. This year I hope to aggressively increase my credit score in the US as I treat that as a badge of honour. I did take out a car loan as a way to build up that credit score (which is something I thought I never would do, since I'm no fan of debt). I hope to greatly reduce the car loan debt this year as well since the interest rate is high, but I will leave a little around for credit score purposes. The other goal for this year is to get rid of my secured credit card and get a real credit card.

Investment wise I am planning on re-entering the stock market. The goal for this year is to properly diversify my holdings and reduce my risk exposure. I'm not as young and reckless as I once was anymore, so no more crazy speculative stocks. I have important things to save for.

On the work front, I also have high expectations for 2010. I continue loving my work, and I hope I continue to grow momentum this year.

I hope to increase my cooking abilities this year as well. I do have a number of folks calling me Chef Chan these days. I do intend to upgrade some of my kitchen equipment. The majority of my equipment is entry level gear from IKEA. The first thing I wanted to upgrade was my knives; one of my good friends bought be a set of German knives for Christmas. Second item is a really good cutting board. Third on the list are rectangular plank dishes for serving (they look really cool). I've noticed from my cooking photos that I've been doing a lot of meat dishes, so I think it's time to diversify into seafood. At my church in San Jose, I have started joining a monthly cooking small group.

In terms of church, I have been sitting on the side lines for a while now, taking a break and just sitting in services, rejuvenating and just enjoying church. I've been keeping a fairly low profile, and most people don't know that they have a sound technician in their midst (they're always in high demand). Things will change this year, it's time to switch back to active service in the ministry.

Of course 2010 will have its share of challenges and roadblocks. Of course some of my best laid plans that I wish to pursue are futile unless certain conditions that I deem impossible, changes. With that said, one of my friends gave me this great quote. "When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God." With that in mind, I'll keep the hope alive.

Here's to 2010. Faster. Better. Stronger.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:31:00 -0800

Friends, family, countrymen! I shall be migrating North for the winter, in time for Christmas. I fly out of Silicon Valley on December 18th, and I'll be staying in Victoria for an extended period again this year. Drop me a line if anyone wants to meet up while I'm making my annual appearance. Reservations are first come first serve .

See you all then.

One Shots: O Canada

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:26:28 -0700

I was checking out the Flickr Blog, and came across their entry, "Happy Canada Day, eh?." They featured this awesome photo below.

I did wear my Canada t-shirt at work for Canada Day. Some people didn't believe that I was from Canada. I usually responded with, don't you notice my Canadian accent?

The Move To Yahoo! HQ

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:59:16 -0700

Two weeks ago, my entire team was moved from Yahoo's Mission College campus to Yahoo HQ. When I tell people that, their first impression is, oh, you got a promotion and you're moving to headquarters? Nope, not at all, this is a cost cutting measure because they had free space for us. Anyway, currently settling in, but still haven't had time to unpack my stuff. I'm still getting randomly loss in my building.

I guess I'll start with the cons of moving to HQ. The commute currently is annoying via public transit; I will reiterate that public transit in Silicon Valley is bad. My commute has increased from 30-35mins one way, to 60-70mins. As a result, I have to wake up earlier, and I'm getting home later. As a consequence, I have accelerated my time table in buying a car. Just need to find time to sort out California driver's license and insurance. Unfortunately in this state, my Canadian driver's license isn't going to cut it, so I need to do the road test again.

The other thing about our move to headquarters is that our current workspace is one big open area, shared by 4 programmers. I lucked out and got my own individual cube, but the other folks weren't too happy about it. Currently they're not reconfiguring work spaces because a ton of people moved to HQ.

On to the pros of moving to HQ. One huge advantage is that the cafeterias at headquarters are much much better. The food so far has been pretty good, and they have a larger selection. First day at HQ, I had a flank steak salad for lunch. Yum.

Another advantage is that most talks, events, and training happen at HQ, so it's convenient to attend them now. While we were at the Mission College campus, it meant a 20min drive to HQ and back if we wanted to participate. Life at headquarters is definitely more lively. Today for example, they had an outdoor BBQ with some band playing for everyone.

Anyway more later. Just wanted to post a small glimpse into my life currently. The blog has been a bit neglected as of late as I'm pretty busy.

Operation Pink Thunder

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:08:05 -0700

Currently crazy busy at work, but here's some photos of a prank that was inflicted on a co-worker during our move to Yahoo! HQ. I will not confirm or deny any involvement in this op. Here's a little bit of epic music to go with the Flickr slideshow.

Emergency Jump

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:57:56 -0700

Today, I find myself sitting in an airport terminal rushing home to see my grandmother one last time as she is gravely ill. It's a strange sensation just dropping everything, and organizing an emergency trip back. One day you find yourself in California, one day you find yourself back home. I should be home between April 23 - May 4.

I do kind of feel bad leaving my co-workers on the front lines like this, as we're in the heat of some critical projects being worked on. We were at 40% strength as it was due to various people taking leave or vacation. Thankfully my work is cool enough to allow me to work remotely from home during this emergency trip.

Lets hope it's not too much of a shock to the system heading back as we just had a heat wave down here where it was 33C, and that's what I'm acclimatized to right now. In either case, I've broken out the rain and long sleeve gear out of storage.

Anyways, I'll be going dark now as I'm getting close to boarding. Don't expect too many blog posts in the next little while. Thanks for everyone's well wishes and condolences.

Quotes From George Herbert

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:28:47 -0800

Just a short post tonight as work is crazy busy these days. As of late, I find my mind preoccupied with what 2009 will bring us. I have some big expectations for this year, which I'll get into later. My brain is constantly churning away trying to figure out how I'm going to get from point A to point B in this game of life. In this state of mind, I enjoy reading quotes to get some motivation and inspiration. Tonight, I stumbled upon the writings of George Herbert who was an English Poet, Orator, and Priest.

Here's a few choice quotes from him that I thoroughly enjoyed reading:

"The best mirror is an old friend."

"Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along."

"He that is not handsome at 20, nor strong at 30, nor rich at 40, nor wise at 50, will never be handsome, strong, rich or wise."

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

"Storms make the oak grow deeper roots."

"The shortest answer is doing."

"War makes thieves and peace hangs them."

"There would be no great men if there were no little ones."

And yes, these quotes have been entered into the quotes database.

Hope Is In The Air

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:27:48 -0800

Don't worry, even though the title has the word "hope" in it, this entry has nothing to do with President Obama. In either case, sorry for the break in blogging, I've been preoccupied pondering about what lies in store for me in 2009. I had a battle plan all worked out for this year, but half of the goals in it are already void as the situation on the ground has already changed that quickly. As they say though, one of the first casualties of war is the battle plan. The Art of War also says, "just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions."

Anyway, while I was away from California, the church which I attend in San Jose started a 4-week series entitled, "Miracles." My mom usually listens to those sermons as well, and she asked if I had heard it yet as it was amazing. I hadn't and life went on. When I got back to California, I had lunch with one of my church friends, and he asked if I had heard that sermon, and he implored me to listen to it. I finally got around to listening to it tonight, and I have to say it was an awesome way to start 2009. Despite all the horrible news around us, it's a nice change to hear good news. The sermons are archived here, and there's a video version, and an audio version.

Here's the abstract:

Do you need a miracle?

Are you struggling financially? Is your health what it used to be? Have your relationships become difficult to manage? Whatever situation you find yourself in, no matter how discouraged you have become, there is hope. The good news is this: God is committed to taking care of your needs - physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. No matter what circumstance you find yourself in, God is ready and willing to meet your need.

There's one line in the sermon that really stood out (and I'm paraphrasing): "You ask, what happens if I get my hopes up, and nothing happens? You should be asking, what happens if I get my hopes up, and something does happen?"

I'll be the first to admit for my battle plan to work out, it's going to involve a few miracles, a bit of faith, and a bit of bravery. Anyway, I'm going to mark down some milestones as a note to myself should things work out. Jan 22, 2009 - Operation Delicious Victory. Jan 26, 2009 - Operation Valour.

I have to say I'm a bit excited about how 2009 is going to unfold. One last thought that someone conveyed to me recently, when you finally succeed in your goals, all of those past failures will suddenly matter a lot less.

A Long Way Back To California

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:22:43 -0800

So my trip back to California was quite long and tiring. It all started when I got to Victoria International Airport at 10:20am, 1h 20m before the flight left. I go to the check-in counter, and there's a huge line of passengers. That's a bad sign. Eventually I figure out from people's murmurings that my flight into Seattle was canceled because there was too much fog on the Seattle side. The attendants at the check-in counter were busy trying to book new tickets for passengers. For those keeping count, yes this is the dreaded Victoria-Seattle route operated by Horizon Air / Alaska Air, the route that is perpetually delayed whenever I take it.

As time moved on, people in the line grew increasingly impatient. This was partially due to the fact that one of the attendants decided to leave, which left only one person working the counter. The other reason was because Air Canada was able to get a flight out to Seattle at around our departure time, so what gives?

After waiting in line for an hour, I finally get to the attendant. She informs me that the next flight to Seattle is at 4pm, and the connecting flight to San Jose departs at 8pm and arrives at 10pm. This was no good because that meant that I would be waiting at the airport for five hours, and the bus routes I rely on in San Jose don't run at 10pm.

Luckily I recalled that United Airlines runs a direct flight between Victoria and San Francisco, so I inquired about that flight. Departure at 2:40pm, arrival at 4:40pm. If this was the amazing race, a move like this could put my team in the lead. This meant waiting at the airport for three hours, and getting into the Bay Area a full 6 hours earlier, so I opted for this flight.

The United plane was actually not bad. It's smaller than the one from Seattle-San Jose, which meant loading times were much faster. The chairs were nicer, and I had way more leg room. The view was also much nicer when approaching San Francisco.

This was the first leg of the race. The second leg of the race was figuring how to get down to San Jose. I managed to do it with public transit for $11. The route was:

San Francisco Airport - Take BART Train Northbound to San Bruno
Transfer to BART Southbound to Milbrae
Transfer to CalTrain Southbound to Santa Clara
Arrive at Santa Clara transit station, transfer to Bus #60 Southbound
Arrive at Valleyfair Transit Center, transfer to Bus #23 Westbound

Yes, this took five transfers to finally get home. I have to say that the train system there is absolutely ridiculous. The BART is one train system, and CalTrain is another; they should really just harmonize the two train systems. My assertion that the Bay Area's public transit is awful still stands.

Anyway, I managed to finally get home at 8pm. So total travel time + waiting time = ~10 hours. It was a long and tiring day. On a positive note, I managed to finish reading Sun Tzu's Art of War in only one day. First book of 2009 completed.

I Am Not A Mercenary Coder - Part 2

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:46:23 -0800

This is a follow-up article to "I Am Not A Mercenary Coder" because there is a new chapter to the story, and no, I have not joined a mercenary outfit. If you don't want to re-read it, let me give a brief overview again. A couple months ago, one of my friends joined a shady start-up in Silicon Valley and kept pestering to me to visit him for lunch. I finally went to visit him, but the lunch turned out to be a trap, and they were trying to recruit me to their organization, and I had to sit through a sales pitch by their CEO. After that incident, relations with my friend has been chilly at best since I decried their recruiting tactics.

Fast forward a couple months, and I come across my friend again at a dinner and movie event because the party organizer is a mutual friend. We go out for dinner first before the movie, and the friend is supposed to join us for the movie. We hold seats for him until the theater becomes packed, and we're forced to surrender the seat. Looks like the guy is a no show. The organizer is visibly annoyed because he's been blowing off events like this consistently. As we're driving away from the theater, we receive a text message from the friend saying he just got here, and wanted to do dessert.

Over dessert, I discover that this guy has jumped ship to yet another start-up in less than three months; however, this time, the start-up is even smaller, and the business plan is even more unsound. Throughout the rest of the night, he pokes around asking if I'm still happy with my current job, and whether I'm being properly compensated. Obviously the guy is on a fishing trip, trying to recruit me yet again. At this point, I start providing short conversation ending responses.

After that, I thought to myself how stupid it would be to follow this guy around. If I had joined his previous start-up, he would have jumped ship, and I would be stuck either at the start-up, or I'd be following him to yet another job. It was only a couple months ago when he was ranting and raving about his previous employer. It's also not ideal that he's now super busy and constantly canceling on friends at the last minute.

I hope I never become that man.

The Best Of Chan 2008

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:31:44 -0800

To end the year, I put together a collection of the best photos of the life of Chan in 2008. I thought this was a worthy way to salute the end of 2008. The music featured today is "Be With Me", by V.A.S.T.

Enjoy.

Yahoo! Year End Party 2008

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:23:00 -0800

Just finished uploading photos from the Yahoo! Year End Party, so I've attached a slideshow beneath. The slideshow is accompanied by music from Moby, "In My Heart." Please play the slideshow and music. Enjoy.

This year's controversy was, why would we throw a big Christmas party if people are getting laid off? Couldn't we save some money by canceling it, and save some jobs. The answer from the company brass is no, because the party had been booked and planned almost 6 months earlier. Canceling it would have only saved a marginal amount of money, and we would have lost a bunch of deposit money.

Back To The Winter Wonderland

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:38:08 -0800

So, I'm officially on vacation mode, so that's why the blog updates have been slowing down. I flew into Victoria on Friday night. As expected, the Horizon Air connection flight from Seattle to Victoria was delayed by 40 minutes. Three out of four times, that flight is delayed due to maintenance problems.

In either case, as I stepped off the flight, it was -9C, and up to -14C with the wind. For some reason, there were a couple of people on my flight who stepped off the plane wearing short sleeve t-shirts, not such a good idea. I spent Saturday re-adjusting, and Sunday hiking through the snow.

First question I usually get is, how are you adjusting to the weather since you've been living in California? It actually hasn't been much of an adjustment because since November, I started preparing by refusing to turn on the heat at my apartment, and wearing only a t-shirt, and sometimes a windbreaker if outside. In Silicon Valley (which is literally a valley), at night it's around 1C, morning is around 6C, and afternoons are around 10C. The difference isn't all that great.

In the last three days, I have probably walked about 10km in the snow, and it has been enjoyable. The only bad thing with all this snow and walking are the giant puddles that are downtown located at the shoulders of streets. Some of the puddles are ankle deep!

One of the nice things about the snow is that all your plans and schedules just suddenly disappear, and there's nothing you can do about it. Strangely, it's kind of nice, probably because the whole year I am bound by schedules and deadlines. It's the perfect opportunity to just sit back and relax..... and the weather is perfect for napping.

As I walk around Victoria, the main thing that I notice is all of the construction that has been going on. Looks like there have been a lot of big residential and commercial projects being developed around here. I privately wonder how many of them are going to finish though due to the horrible recession.

In either case, I'll be working on uploading the last of my 2008 photos. Stay tuned. If anyone wants to hangout while I'm in town, leave me a comment.

Bullet Time

nospam@example.com (CHaN) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:57:00 -0800

I was busy uploading the last of my summer photos when I came across a blog worthy picture. California represents a lot of firsts for me. In this case, I fired my gun this summer. My friend who's a federal agent, we'll refer to him as TS, took me to a firing range in Milpitas. He had just gotten a new Glock 23, and was itching to try out.

Some interesting things I noted at the gun range:

No headshots. We bought various paper targets to shoot at, and one of them was a human silhouette. However, it was against the rules to aim and shoot for the head. I guess they didn't want civilians getting good at head shots since they're usually fatal shots.
No double-tapping. Double tap is where you fire off two shots quickly. The theory is that the two shots will hit the same spot twice with fairly high accuracy compared with firing off two shots slowly. This technique is also useful in defeating certain types of body armour. Again, they frowned upon civilians from learning this technique.

These rules above however did not apply to law enforcement officers. Officers just had to prominently display their badges, and they could fire away without the staff yelling at them. I kind of find these rules a bit futile though, because there's really nothing stopping civilians from going out into the woods and practicing these various techniques.

Anyway, TS taught me proper shooting stances and grips, so that's a good basic skill to learn properly. After my first few shots, I was kind of surprised how far bullets drifted away from intended targets merely by small shifts in my grip. After firing off fifty rounds, I got my rhythm and breathing about right, and got my grouping much tighter and scored a few bulls-eyes.

There were three guys in the lane next to us who had rented out a magnum handgun. Even though we all had ear protection on, my goodness is that a loud gun. It also had some serious recoil. The guys looked like they had sore wrists after firing off the beast.

In either case, I'm pretty sure if I tried doing some Hollywood style running and shooting with two pistols, I'd hit nothing. Although, it'd be pretty awesome to watch.