[NicMM]

Funny to see some company posted hiring information in that thread 🙂

[NicMM]

I would ride it and enjoy the quick trip between Bay area and San Diego.

[NicMM]

I didnt visit that website. Don’t even know which site it is. But saw that picture from a mobile chatting group. So forwarded it here.

[NicMM]

[quote=flu]What I’m surprised is Walmart hasn’t started significantly outsource yet. Then again, maybe because they are so profitable, they haven’t had a need to (yet). Well, at least in the short term, it’s great money for people that want to work there. Maybe for the next 2-4 years…or longer….[/quote]

If they want to compete with Amazon head by head, I don’t think they will outsource. Walmart Lab is doing a lot of big Data analysis to target the customers. It is not just a shopping cart app.

[NicMM]

Flu,

Don’t be surprised to see how much value appreciation your Bay Area rental has got ;).

NicMM

[NicMM]

$200k annual package for Senior level software engineer is a norm at Bay Area. Google, Facebook engineers get $300k + in good years. Uber, Pinterest, those hot pre-IPO companies give hot compensations too and stocks are good chunk of them.

As far as I know, Walmart Lab was a startup acquired by Walmart. It builds all the eCommerce software for Walmart. It pays its employees well as other hot companies.

[NicMM]

Why don’t we just buy BKR-B? Isn’t it simpler than tracking Dow and adjusting portfolio very year?

NicMM

[NicMM]

[quote=njtosd][quote=CA renter]

FWIW, I’m not lying when I compliment other women (or men). I think that all people are beautiful, each in his/her own way. We don’t all need to look like some stereotype in order to be attractive and appealing to others.[/quote]

To quote one of my favorite characters, Syndrome, “When everyone is super, nobody will be.” Beauty is a relative term – to say everyone is beautiful makes it meaningless. You may like everyone, you may find them to be valuable and meritorious, or you may say that physical beauty is unimportant to you in terms of other people’s worth. All of that would be fine. But everyone isn’t beautiful, or smart or funny.

And although I think your motives are genuine, there are a lot of people out there who say everything is great (for example, local school principle who uses the word “amazing” 100 times/parent meeting) to prove the depths of their own enthusiasm, rather than the merit of the object of their compliments.[/quote]

njtosd, complimenting a friend is not like granting a trophy to the winner of a competition. It is sad to think that way.

NicMM

[NicMM]

[quote=CA renter]Maybe they look unattractive to you, but their friends might think that whatever they’ve done (new hair, makeup, etc.) makes them look good; or, at least, better than they looked before.

But do women have that much of their self-worth tied up in their appearance? You bet! A lot of them, anyway. After all, females are usually taught from birth that their youth and beauty are their most valuable assets, even though many of their parents don’t even realize it. And even if their parents do everything in their power to avoid doing this, once the kids start living in the real world, they will soon be subjected to these standards.

Like we’ve seen in other threads right here on Piggington, people will criticize women for not looking good or for being too old. You don’t hear that type of criticism leveled at men nearly as often as you do with women.

Think about all of the criticism that Hillary Clinton has had to deal with regarding her appearance. People have been relentless over the years in making fun of her clothing, her “cankles,” and her “lack of femininity.” Whether one likes her or not, there is no question about her superior intellect, education, and experience; but she had to deal with people focusing more on her looks, her marriage, her “wanting to be a man,” etc., instead.

Which male politicians have had to deal with crap like this?

http://www.ibtimes.com/tim-gunn-mocks-hillary-clintons-pantsuits-photos-839561

Sarah Palin had to deal with the same thing, as does every other woman out there, no matter her professional experience or intellect (not saying Sarah Palin is high on the list here, but many people focused more on her looks than on anything else).

And women are every bit as guilty of subjecting other women to this as men are, if not more so.

Do some women try to make others feel better about themselves? Yes, they do. Because they — the women who desire to be kind and supportive — understand the vicious nastiness that women have to deal with regarding their appearance. So we, and I’m including myself in this group, will point out what we feel are a woman’s best attributes to let her know that she is beautiful, inside and out.

FWIW, I’m not lying when I compliment other women (or men). I think that all people are beautiful, each in his/her own way. We don’t all need to look like some stereotype in order to be attractive and appealing to others.[/quote]

CA Renter, you nailed it. That’s what I wanted to express but hard to put the words together for. I am a woman of an intellectual type. The way that my parents raised me up was to focus my skills and capabilities and ignore my appearance. I used to feel embarrassed when receiving compliments on my look and used to not give compliments to the looks of my girl friends. That gave me a disadvantage on building relationships with my friends. As I grew older, I started to understand the beautiful look of a person actually IS a reflection of some internal quality of her (especially for an adult). It requires lots of knowledge and lots of work and persistency to achieve and maintain that, same as to be proficiency to any skill.

Therefore, a sincere praise to the look of a friend is as important as a sincere praise of her work, skills, quality… etc. It is a way to show support.

Now I give lots of compliment and do lots of Facebook Likes to my friends, and receive lots back as well. Those small things make my days happier.

NicMM

[NicMM]

People seem pessimistic on the future of aging. But it is sadly true how the family members feel about the elderly.

Just being quoted for a Permanent Life + LTC, I know I cannot afford it. It is just that simple.

NicMM

[NicMM]

In my case, I got a fee increase of $600. So I asked my tenant if it would be ok I raise monthly rent $50 after the current lease expires. She said it’s ok. But the current lease will be there until August. Is it possible my tenant change mind and move out instead?

[NicMM]

Back to the health care cost. In Bay Area, I found there are some for profit doctor groups which don’t take insurance at all. But their charges are very reasonable. I took my foreign visiting family members there, the visit is $90 each. Lab work is a little over $100. Medicines like antibiotics, blood pressure medicine or Lipitor is $10 ~ $15 a bottle. It is totally affordable to go there.

[NicMM]

Thanks everyone here for the advice and support.

I am not 100% sure my non confrontational personality is good or not. Take the school as an example. We were pretty unlucky on this. We purchased the house based on the assumption that my older one can go to a good public elementary school close by. But right before the school started, we were notified that he was assigned to the school 2nd closest to home, which is the weakest school in the district. During the first two days of school, from talking to my son, I found that classroom was noisy because of kids talk all the time during instruction time. He had no chance to ask questions as the teacher ignored his raising of hands. Those certainly made me even unhappier. I went to the school of my 1st choice and tried to ask about enrollment and future enrollment issues, the staff there said “The school is full. Maybe he (my son) will love the other school. It is a good school. It is ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE”; when I mentioned that students raising hands didn’t get chance to ask question, the comment was “It happens everywhere”. I felt very mad about this comment. Later I found a private school and transferred my son out. Even when I was asked why withdrew my son from the school, I didn’t say “classroom were not in good order” or “teacher seems to ignore students” but just simply “I want to put him in a private school”. This school does not have a good rating. But it seems the principle and staff are trying to improve it from what they were saying. Am I doing a disservice to the school or students there by not letting my true comments out? Given that I still believe in public school system.

[NicMM]

Thanks everyone for the advices. Now I have got my deposit back. Here are the details:

When the first day I went to check the work of the painting and floor, I pointed out the paint showed differently than the old one. The contractors said it’s because of difference of new and old paint. Maybe even the contractors themselves were not happy with that result, or maybe they found it took them much less time than they originally estimated, so they decided to do a better job. Anyways, since I just bought a house, I could be their returning customer for bigger projects. The next day when I came back, they surprised me with a very nice job. They painted the walls where they looked ugly from top to bottom. They also refinished the floor where it was scratched. The whole house looked even newer than the time I moved in! I was very happy.

I called the landlord in for the final walk. She was very happy to see the house was in such a good move-in-ready condition. But she still pointed out the door from the garage to the kitchen was dirty, which was overlooked by both my contractors and me. She said she would try to scrub, but if the dirt stays, she would charge me the price of a tin of paint. She also asked me to remove any garbage/boxes left at the house (out of the garbage cans), otherwise she would charge me disposal fee. Other than that she would return the rest of my deposit in 21 days.

In 3 weeks, I received my full deposit back. Not sure if my landlord managed to clean the dirty door, or she just let it go.

Over all, I spent $600 on contractors, $180 for cleaning, and $220 for days of rent when the house was empty, which add up to $1000. Still expensive, but much less than the total of the first round of quotes. I think the contractors for painting and flooring overcharged a little, as these two people charged me for two days work, while in fact it seems they could finish in one day. But they did do a good job in the end of the day. I did hire them back to help on my newly purchased home. I heard many anecdotes in Bay Area about some contractors disappeared in the middle of a project. In comparison to that, these two guys are not bad.

I know many people can manage to minimize the move out expense better than me. I am ok with that. I am satisfied that I could leave the headaches of past behind and focus on what I care and would like to spend my time and energy on: organizing for my future home, while work full time and take care of my two children.

[NicMM]

Thanks everyone. I struggled a few days to think about the possibility of leaving the house as simple as broom sweep, and ended up to hire some contractors not recommended by the landlord. Today, I went to check the work, and found the touch-up paint does not look flawless because I can tell new paint from the old paint.

I don’t know what the landlord would say or do. But if I don’t get my deposit back, I will resort to the small claim court. Better research on that now. Will keep you posted.

[Author]

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