新年快樂 Happy Chinese New Year

It has become a habit to write the unsaid things before I travel, just in case. As I am heading home for Chinese New Year, I can't help to be anxious but at the same time grateful for many things in my life.

To my parents, and grandma, and relatives
Despite getting older and near 30, I still miss the sight of all of you, the feeling that I belong to a bigger family, and I love you all very much. And of course this includes my brother as well.

To my friends
It's another year past by, another year we have known each other, and getting older. It is funny, interesting, complicated, but I am proud of our group, our relationships, laughters and memories

Sincerely yours
Jerry

祝大家 牛年快樂 牛年發財 春滿乾坤福滿門

January 20, 2009 - Historical Day for Barack Obama, and Jerry

Mark this day on the calendar, January 20, 2009

• Barack Obama 2009 Presidential Inauguration, with record coverage, record crowd, and a sense of hope for a brighter future. Sounds a bit like 馬英九 in March 2008 for Taiwan. I didn't watch it online at work though, but PVR'ed it at home, and also sees it on BitTorrent

• Bank of Canada lowers overnight rate target by 1/2 percentage point to 1 per cent, saving me a few thounsands on the mortgage especially considering all banks follow suit with 0.50% drop in bank's prime rate

• Jerry Hung, myself, successfully passed my 3 months probation at the new job, and now I am a bit safer and stuck here :)

• This is not really historical in anyway, but I got myself a MSI Wind U100 netbook - MSI Wind 10" Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 3 Cell Battery) Black. Let's see what the fuzz is all about

Car Shopping Result - 2004 Acura TL

NORTEL - the fall of the Canadian pride

Jan 14, 2009. Mark this day in the history as the day Nortel officially declared bankruptcy/Chapter 11

Once the darling of Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and household name & favourite as every Mutual Fund would have it. It was the Research In Motion stock back in 2000, loved by everyone, and now it dropped to 14 cents and below. Long gone were the $100+ per share days....
In a way, we did get out while it's less loss many years ago - a blessing in disguise

More Nortel articles for entertainment, Farewell, NT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.wnortel_main15/BNStory/Technology/home
http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090115.wnorteldecloet15/BNStory/Business/home

Free Quicken Online Personal Finance Management

Came across the Quicken Online from some discussion boards, and gave it a cook try as it is 100% free

Summary
Quicken Online utilizes Online Banking and manages your Personal Finance
It connects to your financial institutions, download accounts & statements, and manages them

Features

• Track your spending trend/pattern
• Show you how much you have left (net worth)
• Display recent transactions
• Set goals to achieve

Pros

• Accessible anywhere there is internet
• It's FREE
• Supports & Imports many institutions - TD Canada Trust, PC Financial, ING, etc...
• Seamless integration with your online banking accounts, provided you provide the username/password

Cons

• Rather simple compared to fully-featured Quicken or Microsoft Money software
• There is always the concern of leaking information or breached security, and cause cascading damages

I think, therefore I am

This is a funny joke on Rene Descartes' famous statement - I think, therefore I am;

Descartes' wife: Rene - did you remember to pick up the milk?

Descartes: I don't think..(Descartes disappears)

Jobless Everywhere

All focus today is the Job Losses in Canada and USA. It is in those times one feel unsettled, concerned about one's job (fingers crossed). At the same time, I feel grateful for a wonderful job and environment to minimize the jobless concern. Nobody reads my blog, so it is definitely not an intent to sweet talk my managers :-)

Even the Kitchener-Waterloo region is not immune, news says

Locally our unemployment rate rose to 7.7 per cent in December from 6.5 the previous month. 22-thousand people are without work in Waterloo Region.
35-hundred of them were looking for a job last month.

Busy Start for 2009

2009 starts with a busy busy week

There is the Car Shopping done, but the aftermath to catch up. Moving cash around to allocate for the unexpected large expense (~$10,000), and adjusting to winter in the new car, cleaning the garage to fit it in.

Shopping wise, we visited the Metro shopping mall for awesome Taiwanese lunch, and spent the day at the always-crowded Pacific Mall. I did not buy anything anyway

Then the weekend Gathering with Sung in downtown Toronto before seeing each other again next X'mas.

And I passed another SQL Server exam (2 in a month, 1 left to go before the official certification)

I cannot wait for another vacation, coming up Chinese New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2009

I want to wish everybody a HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR and a better 2009


New Year Resolutions:

• Advance my career and improve my technical and non-technical skills
• Safe year, no accidents, no close person leaving this world
• Better luck in equities
• Find my one? I think I said that last year, and the year before too
• Lose weight? I think I said that last year, and the year before too, kinda give up now