Category: living]U.S.orphan

U.S med bx
U.S. housing
U.S. phones
U.S. essential banking service

y I have a warm feeling for NYC

Posted on by BinTAN

(A letter I didn’t send out)

After hearing your first impression of NYC, I decided to take this opportunity to reflect why I have a warm feeling for the big apple.

Many Americans tell me NYC is full of energy. There are many young people, and many events. They make me feel lively, not lonely. I certainly wish to see more Chinese faces. Luckily, some of those young people (and older guys) attracted to New York City are actually Chinese. The three Chinatowns in NYC (Manhattan Chinatown, Flushing and eighth avenue) make me feel less isolated than in other U.S. cities. Jersey City also has a large Chinese population, much higher than an average U.S. city.

NYC is more inclusive, more diverse, i.e. less white.

NYC offers more diverse job choices and education choices. Makes me feel less boxed in less restricted and more free.

I don’t like car ownership and NYC is less car-dependent mostly due to the subway which runs 24-hours. NYC also has more buses than most US cities.

Incomes are slightly higher in NYC than other U.S. cities. I feel lucky for that. Even though prices are also higher, I don’t usually buy anything in Manhattan. As a result, I get to save more in NYC than other cities.

My family income is not high. Many “nicer” locations of U.S. are higher income. I actually feel poor living in those locations when my neighbors all earn higher. NYC has many low-income residents, and I feel not so left-out and left-behind.

##[18] life enriched: 5 subtle factors #yoga,wifi

Posted on by BinTAN
  • frequent exercise classes
  • wifi in many shops nearby. Ever since 1995 Ginza Plaza McDonald’s…
  • —food: healthy, tasty and high-end
  • lots of fancy fruits
  • fish — but not fried
  • breakfast porridge
  • green-machine

—home location factors .. expensive  not “subtle”

    • well-maintained street
    • short commute by bike (or train). Unlike many of my peers, I just can’t get used to long commute
    • parks or waterfront nearby? actually not so important. See Parks: less important than well-maintained street
    • time for exercise, family .. rather than long hours “wasted” on commute or in office.

 

## t-penalty@commute: proven solutions

Posted on by BinTAN

Q: which solutions are proven effective?
A: Short answer — very few, if any, but still we will keep trying.

Let me restate the “toll” — the door-to-door [1] time on commute shortens the “free” time I get for email, blogging, learning, exercise, chores etc.

  • tip: wtc route (with a $2.75 cost) — has minimum standing time (only 3 min from ExchPlace to WTC). Can read and blog on subway and also at WTC benches!
  • tip: Hoboken route — eliminates standing time
  • solution: print out my blog and read? Fewer than 20% of the time I felt it was effective.
  • solution: fuxi tech books? About 20-30% of the time I found it effective.
  • solution: magazines/newspaper? higher chance of effective “itch-scratch” than tech books, but I don’t want to spend too much time on magazines
  • solution: print out email draft and edit it in pencil? good
  • solution: laptop for coding practice? seldom tried. I am concerned about the warm-up
  • tip: call family?
  • solution: jog part of the journey
  • solution: wfh
  • — now the numerous (subtle) obstacles that make the “toll” really hard to avoid
  • obstacle: no seat. Standing time is completely unusable:(
  • obstacle: dependency on pencil
  • obstacle: train frequency — This issue can effectively adds 20 minutes to the “toll”. You dare not miss the train so you end up coming in early and wait longer.
  • obstacle: concentration — Unless I go all the way to the final stop, my reading concentration is always interrupted.
  • obstacle: transfers — A transfer easily destroys 10 minutes of “concentration”
  • obstacle: brief train journey — due to concentration and other factors, I never made effective use of 5-minute train trips, where the total time taken (including transfer) is 10 minutes.
  • obstacle: train delays as Nirav described

[1] much longer than the station-to-station time.

Bayonne Chinese restaurants: lessons learnt

Posted on by BinTAN

I now prefer fried rice ..

  • easier to keep. Next day doesn’t become ruined, so I am significantly more likely to “spread it out” to 2 – 5 meals.
  • I was able to keep vegetable fried rice for 4 days in fridge and it was still ok ! In contrast, many dishes from Bayonne Chinese restaurants would go bad in 4 days
  • bread + vegetable fried rice is now a tested combination
  • if no white rice or bread, the fried rice can be taken as a meal all by itself.
  • I can also add some raw carrot!
  • I can also add some pickles or meat to go with white rice + fried rice

The gravy idea was almost never really achieved at these economical Chinese restaurants.

Fried tofu is always more tasty than soft tofu. 麻婆豆腐 is almost never authentic.

 

self-filing ^ tax consultants

Posted on by BinTAN

Many of my respectable peers decide to take up the legwork to learn income tax filing.

Tax consultants proclaim they can help us save on tax, because the legwork is too complex for the average American. If the process is so complex then Consultant A vs Consultant B may get me different tax savings, meaning there’s a high chance (80%) that my chosen consultant will NOT get me the best tax savings.

If it’s so hard to get the max savings, then don’t aim for the max, and accept imperfection, and try it yourself.

I believe my tax profile is simpler than most tax payers, so the value-add of consultants is lower.

tips: light rail ] winter #health

Posted on by BinTAN

Light rail stations become dangerously cold, and a health hazard esp. during the long wait outside peak hours.

While waiting in the cold, I once felt impoverished living in Bayonne instead of downtown JC.

  • Tip: Avoid taking it at night, when temperatures plummet
  • Tip: remember waiting time is longer outside the very brief peak hours
  • Tip: if dangerously cold and windy waiting at the unheated stations, then consider taking reverse train to Hoboken (seats), NewPort and wait there in-door.
    • Exchange place is tricky because by the time you see the train it’s often too late. Better use the phone at the station to confirm timing of next train to Bayonne

U.S.shops encourage try-buy

Posted on by BinTAN

[[predictable irrationality]] calls it “ownership” trap. The U.S. marketing experts, based on research and experiments, believe in the “puppy effect”. Salesmen are trained to encourage new, unconvinced customers to bring home the new product and try it without risk. They emphasize and reassure customers you can easily return it with no questions asked.

“Returns are gladly accepted.”

We as customers need to act as new customers to the shop or the product, unfamiliar with the them, and unconvinced.

If you have a membership with a buying record, they will be more willing to believe you.

The bigger franchise shops are very generous with returns. They have learned from experience that some percentage of customers abuse the system, but the return policy generally increases their revenue and profitability.

  • — A few factors in favor of the try-buy policy and generous return policy
  • factor — the more fancy products may have a low acceptance rate, so perhaps 1 out of 5 customers actually like it enough to keep it. In such a case, the manufacturing cost is negligible compared to the cost of attracting the right customers. The manufacturer doesn’t mind throwing away an opened and returned item
  • fact — most customers are busy and don’t bother to return small ticket items even if they don’t like them
  • factor — some percentage customers forget to return within the grace period
  • factor — some percentage of customers misplace the item or the receipt
  • factor — some percentage of customers damage the product and unable to return

Example product — whey