Random: Chino Hills Earthquake

Here is what I did during the Chino Hills earthquake on July 29, 2008.

Around 11:45 in the software lab, I just copied the software object file to the network folder in order to test the build. Just then, I heard a crack on the roof. Only about 5 seconds afterward before I realized that it was an earthquake. I headed for the lab's door before another shake came.

Few people around the area aggregated about a minute later, and talked about the quake. Few minutes later, I was back to testing, and some people went to lunch. In the cafeteria during lunch time, the TVs were tuned to CNN. The saddest part was how CNN tried to hype up the lack of major or minor damages.

Walk: Clean-Air Car Show

It was on July 19 (Saturday), so this is a bit late. Okay, wayyyy late, but for a good reason.

It was a week ago when I came across South Pasadena Mission West Association website, which contained information about the community event back in April. Well... I missed that totally, but I didn't mind. The site show pictures of the April event and the local businesses in Mission West area. After few minutes looking the site, the photos of unique and classic buildings inspired my next walking destination.

The forward trip was over an hour, but the quiet and serene streets in South Pasadena made the trip quite enjoyable. The city had the feeling of San Marino, but with smaller houses and more cars. Three quarter of the way through, a small park appeared. I took few minutes to circle the park. A lot of young children playing with their parents watching near by, but beside that, nothing much.

As I finally reached Mission West, I found the sidewalk to be under construction. Most of the stores on the side still open, but the sidewalk was dusty and sandy. A block down further, the newly constructed city hall with a newly paved sidewalk. By now, my impression of Mission West began to wane. Up to that point, the area has not impress me. The buildings were new and clean, but neither creative nor outstanding. As I headed back, a green and white fryer caught my eye.

The City of South Pasadena proudly presents
Clean-Air Car show & Film Festival

Hmm...

Since it was only couple block away, I decided to join the festivity. I arrived at around 2:30 PM, and some of the booths were already packing up. True to the name, there were plenty of "future" and "green" cars from several brands in the area. There were hybrid, compressed natural gas, electric, hydrogen fuel cell, etc. However, overall, the car didn't look very impressive. There were no information about the gas mileage, and most of the cars were not in the market yet.

In the end, the only thing that truly impressed me was the animal shelter foundation. They brought a bunch of dogs and cats in their trailer, and each volunteer was taking care of a dog. While walking around the festival, the volunteers was walking their dogs, looking for potential adopters. After playing around with one of them for about ten minutes, I thought about adopting one from a shelter one day. But that time has yet to come, and with that I left the place.

Random: Ignorant People Continue To Be... Ignorant

Here I am reading the L.A. Times story this morning...

Police show up at IndyMac Branches in Encino, Northridge as waiting customers clash

I am not surprise that people are taking money out from IndyMac, but here is the question... why?

IndyMac has been taken over by the federal government already. FDIC insured their money up to $100,000. If they wanted to withdraw their money, they should have done so before the OTS has taken over IndyMac, especially those who had over $100K. IndyMac FSB is now a federal bank, in another word a government bank.

These withdraws are IMHO pointless. Their money will not disappear, since it is backed by the federal goverment. If US government can not give you your money, then expect a world economic crisis pretty soon... like tomorrow soon.

Beside the needless shouting and fighting to get their money out of IndyMac, another thing I am worrying about is their financial plans. Are they going to stash $10K to $100K in their homes? Are you putting it in Washington Mutual (another bank that might head south)? If so, they are just simply repeating the same mistake. Are they going to invest? Although, any fool can see that this is not the time. I would not invest in anything at this time unless I understand the company wholly, its goal, its practice, its potential, and its goal.

Walk and Financial Tip: Banks in San Gabriel Valley

In the previous post, I mentioned Safe & Sound Rating from BankRate.com, so I decided to do some Safe and Sound research on banks in San Gabriel and Alhambra, including international banks. The rating is out of 5 stars (the more, the better).

• Bank of America (FDIC Insured; 3 stars - North Carolina)
• Bank of East Asia (USA), The (FDIC Insured; 2 stars)
• California Bank & Trust (FDIC Insured; 4 stars - California)
• Cathay Bank (FDIC Insured; 3 stars - California)
• CitiBank (FDIC Insured; 3 stars - Nevada)
• Citic Ka Wah Bank (Not Insured)
• East West Bank (FDIC Insured; 3 stars - California)
• Eastern International Bank (FDIC Insured; 4 stars - California)
• Far East National Bank (FDIC Insured; 4 stars - California)
• Omni Bank (FDIC Insured; 4 stars - California)
• Preferred Bank (FDIC Insured; 2 stars - California)
• Shanghai Commercial Bank (Not Insured)
• TomatoBank (FDIC Insured; 4 stars - California)
• United Commercial Bank (FDIC Insured; 2 stars - California)
• Wachovia (FDIC Insured; 2 stars - North Carolina)
  
• Washington Mutual (FDIC Insured; 1 stars - Nevada)
• Wells Fargo (FDIC Insured; 4 stars - South Dakota)
• Wing Lung Bank (Not Insured)

As you can see, WaMu and Wachovia do not look too good here.... Maybe it is time to stop saying Woo Hoo?

Financial Tip: Safe & Sound Bank

If you haven't heard it by now, IndyMac Bank has been closed by Office of Thrift Supervision. On their website, www.indymacbank.com, you will see the FDIC information. If you are one of the unlucky people who still have some money in IndyMac, you will be glad to hear that IndyMac is FDIC insured. FDIC will go through the list of customers, and return the insured money. The insurance is limited to $100,000 per person per bank: checking accounts, saving accounts, and CDs (Certificates of Deposit).

For those who keep up with economy news, the closing of IndyMac on Friday is not a surprise. Their shares headed southward since mid-2007, and dipped below $1.00 for many weeks now. For many savvy investors and knowledgeable customers, they probably transfer their money from IndyMac to another bank already. But for most IndyMac customers, the shutdown is a wake up call. Who would have figure that a well known bank would close down? Well, they just did. Now you know. Let this be a lesson. Nothing is fool-proof.

You might wonder, how do you find out if your bank would go belly up like IndyMac? You could keep up with the daily news about your bank on Yahoo! Finance. It is probably the safest bet. However, it can be difficult to understand the news if you can not understand all the jargons.

Luckily, there is an easier way to determine how well your bank is doing. Just simply look for the Safe & Sound rating for your bank from Bankrate.com. If your bank has three stars or more, then it is not going to go belly up any time soon. But if your bank has a star or two, consider transferring part of your money to a more secure bank. However, if you decided to stay with bank, keep your deposit below $100,000 for FDIC insured accounts, and move out uninsured investments.


* BankRate.com - Safe & Sound rating
* Yahoo! Finance

Random: Think about it

How can you know you are alive if you act according to the norm?
How can you know you are free if you think within the predictable rule?

July 2008 seems like another month for most people. To most people, it is another month. For me, it's a month that I have to say goodbye to two close friends. They are not dead, merely move on to something else. These two never met each other, yet they shared several traits and similar past: traveled to a foreign land, hardship, strong opinion, has specialized skill, conversational, etc. But much important trait is their honest opinion of me. They won't hold back to that I am wrong, and that is invaluable.

Now, it so happened that they gave the same opinion about me. That I will be alone from talking in my own manner, and acting according to my own norm. Are they right? So far, yes. People don't take too kindly of "abnormal" behaviors, and their first instinct is to avoid. In the end, I can only hope that being myself will lead me to meet other honest, open-minded individuals like these two.

I wish to write more, but it will do no good for anyone. Anyways, I will leave it as such for now.