Beethoven In Trance - Episode 55

The long overdue 2008 annual letter.

Time flies. I feel like I just wrote the 2007 year end report not so long ago.

Looking back the year, though I found less 'ground breaking' concepts or projects than we had in 2007, 2008 had its own twists and turns. These events happened to line up nicely in a time line.

Career development became a top priority at the beginning of 2008 when the relationship with my manager went south. I was given an 'action plan' to work on due to some error I caused at work. I was under pressure to dance his tune and look for something else. Remembering my early success in sales and marketing, I concluded that I wanted to move to a similar position. There was one job over the sales and distribution department at the time, initially I decided to wait because my intuition told me that I wasn't ready. Later my manager suggested I look for something else, and I made a mistake to apply for the opening against my gut and my application was failed. Not surprised (as I knew it was coming), I stayed put and did what I have to do at work. The manager left the company shortly after. Then the turning point came. It was an article called 'No Excuse', and it was about being responsible and getting the job done. It helped me. I got better at work and felt less stressed. It was a road map that I could just simply follow it through. Soon, another opportunity in the sales and distribution (actually a better one) became available. I applied, and by July, I got the offer. It was an interesting interview experience. I was interviewed by a manager on the interviewing panel, and I was told that he was also hiring. He seemed interested in my background and indicated that I could apply for his opening as well. So I ended up having one offer that I originally applied at hand, and the one I applied later in the air. After many considerations, I decided to accept the offer in hand (which somehow feels right intuitively). And that, was August already. As a side note, my taste of music started to change along the way as well. the transition is subtle on the surface - from trance to progressive, but the fundamentals are different - from a upbeat mainstreaming pop theme to a personal dedication focus.

So what is the learning? Translating from Dr. Phill 'if you don't manage your inlaws, your inlaws will manage you.' If you don't manage your job, your job will manage you. Also quoting from the article "no excuse" - " if you hate the job, the job will hate you as well, and if you happen to have a job you hate, you just have to be responsible."

Settling down in the new job in the rest of the year, we made a few trips back to back. First stop, Portland, Oregon for our very first marathon in October.

Portland is a fun place. It showed us what we are missing staying in Cleveland. I wasn't able to finish the marathon due to the leg injury which was disappointing. We rested at home for one day and went on a trip to India for our friend's wedding. The trip to India certainly refreshed our view of India. The city we stayed was like a small rural town in China. It was dirty and under developed. Shanghai is in much better shape comparatively. My previous blog has recorded the experience. It was a good trip, short, intense and good. We had good experience with Air India, and the aircraft was better than the one we took the next month to China.

Yes, we went back home for the very first time after 7 years in US. Before we went, we found there was a marathon in Shanghai at the end of November. We signed up, and I started some massage therapy session (because I still had injury on my left leg and couldn't run for 5 minutes). The first 1.5 hour session cost me $120. I then went through the health service in the company and got two more session for $15 / session. After I arrived Shanghai, I went through another massage session with a local therapist (a blind person) for $3 / hour. On Dec. 31th 2008, we were running our first half marathon in Shanghai after 7 years. Our race result was not recorded because we didn't step on the mat at the beginning (because we were late, and we blamed the poor organization). Anyway, we didn't really care about the result that much. We went to an Indian restaurant after the race and had lunch with both our families.

Other than preparing for the marathon and relax at home, I am very happy to visit my grandmother's resting place. I was her favorite, and I haven't had a chance to visit her since she passed away while I was in US. I am also happy to meet with all the family relatives, particularly my mother's elder sister, who was very happy to see me after 7 years. We met my dad's mother as well, she is 92 now and still look healthy. I met most of my friends, played basketball with them, and had dinner with them. And of course, I took many pictures, food, people and city. I cooked some at home, had a chance to cook a free range chicken particularly.

On the financial side, not exciting. Stock market has been tanking since the beginning of the year. Our 401K has dropped 40+%, as well as our Roth IRA accounts. Zecco has announced to pull back free trading service, and I decided to transfer out of this company. I will transfer it to Scottrade, which offers $100 reimbursement for account transfer.

The housing market correlates with the stock market. Our house value has dropped about 11% (20K/170K) since we moved in. Mortgage rate for refinancing was at 4.85% one time, and we decided to refinance our house. We calculated couple options and went to bank to start the application. After another round of calculation after we came back from the bank, we actually found out refinancing was not as good option as paying down another 40K principle to the loan. We wasted $325 because the application fee was not refundable. It was an expensive lesson.

My income in 2008 increased 7.3% from changing the job in August, and I got another 2% ($1000 ) recently as annual salary increase (my wife got a 3%). As for side income, I didn't have much country specialist opportunity in 2008. I can only remember one or two in the whole year. However, I did discover another revenue, which is selling cookware through amazon. The result so far is encouraging. The whole exercises is not just about money, but the mind set - no need to hold on to something I don't use often. If I can sell it for better price, sell it. As of this writing, I have sold total four pans. first, an All-Clad 4 qt. saute pan (the pan that triggered my thought of selling it due to the large price difference online, and the fact that the price was still too much for me @ $70). I sold pan for $120 and pocketed $30 profit. I then sold a used Sitram saute pan and a new Sitram sauce pan, both were selling at higher prices online. I made anther $30 profit on each transaction. The most recent pan sold is a CalphalonOne chef pan, MRSP $200 online and I sold for $95. I bought it @ $20. I have two more listings on amazon now, a Kitchenaid 12qt. stock pot ($24 purchased), and a Beka copper oval fry pan ($15 purchased). They will be tough sell due to the high price I listed them under, but since I am in no rush to clear the inventory. I just wait and see what happens.

We also made a few purchases in 2008 including: clothe and cosmetics from TjMaxx and Marshalls after Valentine's day. food items in a Japanses grocery store in Portland. food items, clothe, accessories and an Indian wok in India. Throughout the year, I bought 5 pieces of new cookware (totalling $110) and three new Japanese knives (totalling $53). During the Christmas month, I bought 3 pairs of shoes, two pairs of trial shoes, and one running shoe for total about $60. We also bought a new TV due to the fact that no more analog signal will be available in Feb. 2009, a DSLR camera Nikon D60 that I am still learning how to use. I also upgraded my PC because I hate not being able to play the latest titles. I was asked why I liked playing games so much. Well, as most gamers (if you play tennis on Wii, you are not included in my definition of gamer) will answer, "because gaming gives you experience that I won't get from real life". With the new PC, I have completed Crysis, Prince of Persia, Bioshock, and Tombraider Legend. I am currently on Tombraider Anniversary and I can see Tombraider Underworld along the way soon. Call of Duty 4 and 5 are also on the top3 list.

2008 Movie of the year award goes to "Journey of the man" from National Geographic. It leads us through life from the beginning to the end, and that, brings me to the next topics - Health.

We are getting more and more conscious about what we eat and how we eat, and we will continue to explore various dietary choice. We started to consume more fish and visit Whole Foods Market more often. We eat slower, and enjoy more variety in our diet. We replaced our costco non fat milk with a whole milk from a local farm, and purchased brown rice to complement our daily white rice. Our recent wheat flour dumpling was a success thanks to a new recipe. I just finished a book called "In defense of food" which talks about what people should eat nowadays (eat whole foods, not much, most plants). I am on the second book "Omnivore's Dilemma". We are excited about what we will discover in 2009. In additional to updating dietary plan, I also joined the company gym, and attending yoga class, which I found helpful. The stretch helped me recover from my injury.

Overall, I will call 2008 a year of awakening. I am happy to see we weren't off the track from 2007 when we layered some good foundation. I am excited about 2009 as we will be starting our own family. I will call 2009 'year of living' as we continue focus on health, career and finance as they form the golden triangle of our happiness.