Valentine’s Day: Only for Adults? NSFW
It seems that after all the excitement of Chinese New Year’s red underwear, Valentine’s Day is just two weeks or so away. Now, if you live in a country where sexy lingerie is not appropriate on Valentine’s Day, you’ll be looking at Chocolates, Flowers or Cards. But … and it’s a big but, they might not be such exciting gifts.
Of course, if you don’t have a boyfriend, you can always buy them for yourself, no one will care!
Guitar Greats: Who would you rank?
Who would you include in the famous guitar greats, people who might be interested in playing the new kramer assault 220?
To start off my list, I’d include: Eric Clapton for sure, he’s my real guitar hero, and has played so many great guitar songs.
I found that Rolling Stone magazine actually has a list of top guitarists. Some of their heroes include Jimi Hendricks, Jimmy Page, Chuck Berry and B.B. King. Who would you rank?
Who cares? If you buy this guitar, you might just find yourself on the 21st Century’s list of 100 guitar greats.
Whither real estate?
With prices of real estate stagnant, such as nags head real estate, and other areas where prices are going through the floor, it is hard to imagine where the real estate bottom is, but it really is coming if not in 2012, perhaps in2013.
But really who cares? Because if you really need to buy home or rental unit for income, you should pay attention to your own mathematics and financing. Just make sure you can really afford, don’t borrow to the hilt, andkeep your eyes open in the markelace before you buy. Trust your instincts.
Location: out and about
I am now posting to this blog from my iPad courtesy of my new 3G sim card. Wow! I know I am late to this game for sure!
Local universities = high schools again?
Last week’s entrance exams here in Taiwan were quite challenging fir local students. One of the Chinese Literature questions went “Challenge yourself to improve”.
I thought it was a decent question but many students would have been pressed to answer such a question in any detail. Yet if you are applying to college in the US, entrance applications always asks in depth profile questions that local students generally can’t fulfill without padding.
Choosing the best college, locally or abroad, in Taiwan often depends on your grades, with students only reading Online college reviews to find the best schools, not the most appropriate ones.
In the local education system, you will often find people studying subjects that they have no interest in, just because they can go to a better school. But perhaps why we call them schools, not universities.
Gone wireless… Wifi-free, too
Sitting in Starbucks, I just upgraded to 3G on ipad finally. And I am telling you it is a smart decision.
For all the Big Noses in Taiwan, like myself, my persistence was rewarded nicely at CHT who helped me process this very quickly. It was hard to get the usual scrogs to do this for me, at a Senlao store… But somehow I lucked out.
And I think it handily beats me 3g experience on my smart phone.
You Do need two forms of ID inc. the ARC card. Emome will be about 680 per month, but that is still much cheaper than using my Dumb phone as much as I was. There was no deposit to pay either… So I willprobably port my phone numbers to CHT at some point, too.
Kenneth
- Posted using BlogPress.
Lost in the mountains in Taiwan? Call Mountain rescue
I wonder what happens when you are hill walking in Taiwan and get in an accident or need medical attention!
I’ve seen reports on the news about medical air evacuation but apparently you may have to pay for the cost yourself, if the government decides your reason was too frivolous!
One tour bus in Taiwan recently got stranded when students went up to Kunyang to see a snowfall there. It was big by Taiwan’s standards, and the government had to send in APCs to rescue the group of students. (more)
Windows Writer Live on Windows 7
Wow! I’ve been using the old Windows writer way too long, and I just updated the software on my new PC, wow!
It’s got the wonderful strip bar from Office 2010~! I haven’t planned to buy the new Office yet, I just don’t need it!
But on Windows 7… I hadn’t realized what a difference the whole thing makes on Windows 7!
Freezing My Hands Off, and it’s only 12C!
While we don’t live in a polar or even a particularly cold climate, here in Taiwan, there are still times when we need mitts, scarves, woolly vests, and perhaps even an electric blanket to keep us warm.
Taiwan’s climate is generally mild, and houses are constructed with two parameters in mind: staying up and staying coolish. There are few considerations given to whiners like me about how cold the houses actually are! Pity!
OPM will float even Warren Buffett
I was listening to a program introducing Geico Insurance, and was wondering how on earth Warren Buffet could amass such a pile of wealth when they began to describe the idea of ‘float’, the money that comes from the members or insured. This money accumulates at such a rate and doesn’t have to be deployed quickly at all.
This means that the money can be invested for a longer period. Now in my business, we have a float of 3 months. This is a wonderful thing to have, we get money from customers and the costs are defrayed slowly over about 12 weeks, until the rebill date. But compared to insurance, such as Medical Malpractice Insurance, this is a relatively short period.
For many kinds of insurance, there is negligible risk that a policy will actually be ‘called’ on; and even if it is, you can sell the risk on to a reinsurer to mitigate the costs. While there is inherent investment risk in any investment you make, you can get at least 1% if you put the cash in the bank in the short term, with almost no risk.
Of course, when you sell insurance, commissions and costs come straight out the pot up front. But it has made Warren Buffett one of the richest in the world, simply leveraging OPM. Brilliant!
