Beethoven In Trance - Episode 70

2019, what a year!

Returning from the year end vacation in Mexico, I jumped right back into work. I wasn't enjoying the work during that time and I had to drag myself out of bed to work in the morning. I told myself that I am a professional, I will show up, do the work, and come back for the next day. And that was what I did.

By March, things at work seemed to slow down, and my team was planning for the upcoming global team meeting in Japan. I was invited to join as well, which made me very excited. I booked a flight at personal expense between Japan and China, and hope I could take the opportunity to visit Shanghai as well.

Until one day everything turned 180 degree. In retrospective, there have been signs that the manager started to collect evidences against me to let me go. I was at the time still have hope that I learned the lessons and I could prevail despite that my former Amazon friend warned me that that was how it all started before she got kicked out. That day eventually came. One Friday, the manager sat me down with HR and lay out the options: either take the severance package and leave, or stay and finish some challenging projects. If I'm not able to finish the projects to their standards, I would still leave with half of the severance package. By that time, I have sensed what's coming, so it was not a complete surprise. I left the meeting with a week to "think about the options".

Fortunately, I have a lot of support from my friends who lived through the exact experiences. I received a lot of encouragement and assurance that I could easily find another job. My friends suggest I tell the company that I would leave with severance in the following Friday to maximize the "pay time". I had a different idea though. If I stay for the week, I will still be professional and try to finish the challenge projects that they intentionally arranged for me. Why give the company that pleasure if they don't value me at the first place? I have told my friends that I would join them at the 15 years high school reunion in Shanghai (a nice coincidence), and now I had to skip it if I stay working for the week. It was a trade off between money and my happiness. I leaned towards one options but I didn't make the final call until I went to work the following Monday. As I was sat in the office and reviewing the emails, it became clear to me that I needed to quit. I notified the manager in the morning and I left he company that afternoon. When I close all my documents and turn in the laptop, I realized that I don't need to work on these shitty tasks. I was overwhelmed by a surreal feeling of relieve. This time, I chose happiness over money.

A few coworkers are shocked to find out that I'm no longer with the company the next day. I met them around the company campus to say goodbye. It was very strange feeling to be on the campus as an outsider. Somewhere in me, there is still a slice of bitterness and resentment to what happened to me.

So I took the lost on the air fair from Japan to Shanghai and bought a new one direct from Seattle to Shanghai. I decided to go back as promised and had some fun.

And I had fun. I stayed at my aunt's place in Shanghai, and spend some quality time catching up with my nephews and nieces. I attended the 15 years high school reunion, and had a blast. I also connected to a professional table tennis player and had a training session. It was a great trip, a necessary break before my next job.

I started my search right away after I came back. I quickly narrowed my focus on a few companies, and eventually decided on MS. I was introduced to a MS employee through a former Amzn coworker who I was nice to. She became my referral and helped me review resume and suggested the position that I should focus on. I followed her advice and submitted my applications. It took me about a month to get my resume polished and submitted. And then, the waiting game began.

About the same time, we were on schedule for our Hawaii vacation. This is on our in-laws bucket list, and we booked the trip before I left my last job. It was a big group, 4 seniors, a 9 year old and us. My cousin in California were also there vacation so we got the chance to meet them as well. It was a great vacation, as usual, we were under prepared for the water sports gears. Thankfully, my cousin have been there many times and lend us some gears so everyone is able enjoy some water time. There are some very very beautiful days, just bit hot. My father in law got motion sickness as we travel in the mountains and he certainly didn't enjoy it as much as we could. I have to say, the water is not as clear as in Cozumel for snorkeling, at least comparing the two places I have visited. 

One week on the vacation, I started to get phone calls from MS for phone interviews. I was able squeeze some time to go through the first round of HR phone screens. By the time we return from the vacation, I was scheduled for hiring manager phone interviews.

Things then started to going to the right direction. I was invited to onsite interview, and after several round of interviews, I was offered the job. I was satisfied with the compensation and position. I have another month before I start.

During the break at home, I tackled some house projects that have been on the list for quite a while. First, I replaced the two toilets, then, learned electrical to replace light switches and a ceiling light. I also finally added the door trim for the entrance inside the garage.

On Sept. 9th, I started my new job. It felt good. The new company has different vibe for sure, and I like it so far, there are some team member issue but I will talk about in the next letter.

We hosted three parties this year, started with our annual Chinese new year with old friends at the beginning of the year. When my folks went to California to stay with my cousin, we invited our neighbor over for our very first "neighbor getting together lunch". The last one with my MS referrals to thank her for her help.

This year, we got hit by some big repair and replacement bills. First, we replace the garage door in the winter time. It was a cold winter, so I added a few paper insulation around the garage door. I forgot to take them off the next day when I opened the garage door. The paper got jammed and caused the door panel going out of alignment with the track. I tried to fix it, but failed. So I called Costco to replace the garage door, as it was a old wooden door due for replacement any way.

In the following late fall, things start to break down around the house again. First, the water heater started to leak, and we had to replace them (again, old units due for replacement). Right after, the minivan driving belt and water pump broke and needed to be replace. Around the same time, the fridge gave up and stopped to freeze. The replacement cost of water heater is about 50% more than in Ohio (as we replaced one in Ohio as well). We sent the minivan to a Chinese garage (based on the recommendation from my mom's Chinese wechat group). It was cheaper than the dealer, but it took two weeks, so there was a trade off.

As for the fridge, I searched the youtube for videos on how to fix the problem and tried myself, but it didn't work. I finally spent $90 for some appliance guy to inspect the problem, he spent 10 minutes and told us that it would cost about $1600 to fix it. That is practically the price of a new fridge. We decided to replace the fridge. Not convinced that the fridge would took $1600 to fix, I asked the new appliance delivery guy to move the old fridge to the basement instead of hauling away. I hoped that one day I could fix it somehow because the fridge still looks new and it's just wasteful to throw it away.

Then something interesting happened. The new fridge had some issue with the interior lights. They didn't come on when the door was open. I had to call the company and scheduled the repair. The Tech came two days later. He was a Chinese. I asked him to look at the old fridge as well hoping he could identify the problem and give me lower quote than $1600 to fix. He looked at it and quoted me $700 to fix the problem. I was glad to hear that, he ordered the parts and came back two more times to put in the fix and inspected the result. Now we have two working fridge, which works well with us because we tend to haul food a lot.

In 2019, the family relation took a negative turn. It's not easy for a family of five living together and everyone has opinion on how things should be done. Many fiery exchanges triggered by child education. Our daughter has not been easy to deal with. She is easily distracted, and have trouble following directions. I am sure my daughter will call her mom a helicopter mom if she understands what it means. Right now, I don't have a good solution, only hope it goes away once my daughter starts to behave.

Pingpong has became my new passion this year. I started to spend money trying different paddles, also expanded my wardrobe for it. MS actually has a program that I can use for sports equipment purchase reimbursement. I bought a new paddle set up(more expensive, over $100). I like it so far. I played in the local church Tuesday night and weekends afternoon every week. In fall, the Sunday afternoon session got cancelled, so I had to find other places to play. I found a club in Bellevue that opens Sunday morning and signed up. There are mostly 1 on 1 play in the club (vs. double in the church), so I need to adjust a bit. I continue to practices at home with the iRobot whenever I feel like it after work.

In 2019, my technical wardrobe expended significantly. We have been buying online and from a retail store 2 hours drive from where we live. I love colorful technical jacket. There are so many grey and black in Seattle, I don't like it, so I am making a statement I guess. Since I shop deals for the whole gang, the whole family wardrobe is updated. My "retired" technical clothing got handed down to my dad, and his "retired" clothing got donated. I now have an extend collection of technical wear with various color, style, insulation material, DWR coating. Unfortunately, I don't see this trend stop, as I could always find deals on these and I hardly say no to deals...

This year movie, other the Marvel Avenger End Game that I watched in iMax, nothing else came to mind at the moment. Two movies in 2019 "The Green Book" and "Bombshell" that I watched in 2020 are good, but nothing that I watched in 2019.  Music wise: Balance Present Sudbeat from Hernan Cattaneo (listening to it right now in fact "life is a wonderful abnormally), and Balance 029 James Zabiela are so good that I bought both CDs.

Financially, we are doing ok, other than the repair bills that I mentioned earlier. I set up a $518/month cadence to investment account. I maxed out the 401k account before I left the previous company, but it turned out not the best idea. MS actually has a much better matching program, so I lost that. I did the tax myself this year, and it took me less time to prepare this year.

Right around the holiday season, I thought it only make sense that I would buy a XBox because I worked for MS. So I did. The machine was overpowering the TV, so I had to upgrade my TV to 4K as well. My company has an annual game pass for us, so I can play a few free games. I had to say, it was under utilized. I simply don't have that much time to play games now.

2019 is like a roller coast year, with pronounced ups and downs. Job change was a big deal, but glad that it worked out. 2020 is an important year with major life changes, but I will address that in the next annual letter