2007

Archive for the year 2007

2007 Fall Parade of Homes

Posted on October 13, 2007 by Ching under Life, Wishlist.

The 2007 Fall Parade of Homes begins today. It will run every weekend from noon to six for the next three weekends.

If you are curious what the trend is in home designs and floor plans these day, you can check them out this way. You can download the parade of homes guide here.

Brian and I are pretty clueless when it comes to these things, but we know what we like. We like lots of huge windows that bring lots of daylight into the house, open floor plans where you see everything as soon as you walk into the house, large kitchen preferrably with a walk-in pantry, three-car garages, walk-out basements, a nice big covered deck so you can put nice deck furniture out there, space in the basement for a movie/media room, a master bath that has a separate shower with at least two shower heads and large enough for ten people (in case Brian and I gain even more weight because we like to shower together), that sort of thing. Not that we can afford any of this, but while we’re dreaming of our house wish list let’s just go all out. LOL.

I think the popular house styles these days are ranches. At least that’s what we like. We don’t like multi-story homes with lots of stairs to deal with. We only want stairs that lead to the nice, bright walk-out, view-out basement on our wishlist. We don’t like home that are mazey with lots of partitions. We like it to be open to maximize all the light coming through the windows.

We actually found a house on the West side of town that fits the bill. Brian doesn’t like the West side, but I think he might consider it for this house. Of course, there is only one snag. At the $266K price tag, we can’t afford it. LOL. Isn’t that always the problem.

We have to save, save, save. And then, we need to make sure we get our house fixed up nice so we can get a reasonable return on it. Which is going to cost money also. Ugh! I’m getting more and more depressed as I type this. Sob.

Speaking of dream homes, we checked out four of the model homes at The Hawthorne last weekend. When we drove by, I picked my house strictly on the beauty of the facade. I told Brian, just you watch this house is going to be the best one. He picked his house, of course, and was convinced his choice would be the best. We looked at all four homes, looking at mine last. Guess what. Mine was the best! Brian was converted as soon as he saw the media room with the digital projector, tiered auditorium style floor with oversized couches, and the surround sound built into the walls. I sure know how to pick them. Even from the street.

I think the price tag on this one was $550K. It’s very nice with the main level being about 2500 sq ft. The floor plan is show below so you can drool over it as well. It’s not the same as actually walking in the house with your shower caps for your feet. Maybe when we win the lottery (or the World Series of Poker says Brian), we can walk in it without having to wear the stupid foot shower caps cos then it will be ours! LOL.

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Wealth Management

Posted on October 13, 2007 by Ching under Life, Sponsored Post.

Everyone pretty much agrees that there won’t be any social security benefits for our generation. They’re estimating that this will occur about 2040. Just about the time that I will be retiring. Brian and I both know that it will be up to us to ensure that we retire comfortably.

For this reason I’m investing heavily on my 401k. I’ve start a Roth for myself and we are also starting on for Brian through Intrust Bank. We meet with the financial planner at the Tallgrass branch on Wednesday.

I’m also keeping my eye open for valuable information about wealth management, which is why I’m excited to share information about the Wealth Expo in New York next week. The Expo is sponsored by MyWallSt.net: Your Financial Social Network. The three-day Expo is jam-packed with seminars. The hours of the event are as follows:

Friday, 10/19: 1:00 PM to 6:30 PM EDT w/ a cocktail hour to follow

Saturday, 10/20: 9:00 AM to 6:30 PM EDT w/ a cocktail hour to follow

Sunday, 10/21: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM EDT (no cocktail hour)

The seminars I found most interesting on Friday are “Making Money in the Markets Is Not That Difficult-We Will Show You How” and “Tax Free Wealth Accumulation” in Breakout Room 1CO2 and “Chasing the American Dream” in the Main Stage.

“Making Money in the Markets Is Not That Difficult- We Will Show You How” also repeats on Saturday, but there are many presentations that day as well. Among them are “Structured Products: Strategic Investment Vehicles for the 21st Century” and “How to Call Market Turns Using Inflection Points,” which are both paid seminars. Helpful presentations in the exhibit hall include, “The 12 Secrets of Millionaire Traders,” “We Systematically Tripled the S&P 500 Since 2000. You Can Too!,” “Keeping It Short: Short and Long Strategies,” “Creating Wealth through Multi-Units in Today’s Market?,” and “Your Next Great Stock.” The following are presented in Newsletter Stage 2, “Trader Secrets,” “The Next Three Months: What to expect from the stock market,” “Effective Retirement Planning for Financial Independence,” and “Safe, Defensive and Profitable Investing.”

On Sunday we thought of “How to Become a Millionaire in a Troubled Real Estate Market” and “How to Find Big Trends in Stocks and Options.” All of these seminars provide valuable information to all investors, not just those of us who are planning for retirement.

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Anna Banana

Posted on October 11, 2007 by Ching under School.

So we got our Investments exams back today. I already knew I got 101% on it from looking on Blackboard. The mean was around 80% and the range was 30% to 105%. I’m not sure how you could get a 30% really. Even without coming to class, I’m sure you could get a 50% on that test. Even without reading the textbook (which I didn’t really, I just wrote down the important terms), you could do pretty well. Besides, the professor made two practice exams available. The actual test was very, very similar.

Anyway, when I got my exam back I immediately started looking at what I missed and stuff. I missed two really easy items. One multiple choice question which we even talked about before the exam. It was super easy, I couldn’t believe I missed it. Pure carelessness.

My other missed item was a matter of selecting gain or loss on one of the problems. Again, the error was the result of pure carelessness. I simply circled the wrong item. Sometimes I just wish I would slow down and review these things. I think I could have gotten an extra three points had I not missed those two things. I really, really have to make a conscious effort not to be Mrs. Speedy Gonzalez on these exams. After all, it’s not a race. I just hate exams so much that I want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

So I was whining to my friend Anna about how I wished I didn’t make such careless mistakes because then I could have gotten a better score. To make myself feel better I said, “That’s okay because you really don’t want to get the highest score and be the one who everyone else hates.” She got quiet all of a sudden and then it dawns on me that Anna got the 105%. Open mouth, insert foot. “OMG, it’s you! You’re the one who everyone else hates,” I said jokingly. We (we, as in students in general) always joke about we really hate the people who get perfect scores on exams because they end up messing up the curve. My view is that I hate it unless it’s me. Then I don’t care. LOL. Anyway, most people don’t hate the students who ace the exams, they’re really just jealous.

Anna got all of the problems right (I did too, except for the stupid gain/loss thing) and missed only one multiple choice question. Plus, she got all three possible points on the bonus question at the end of the test.

I showed her how the professor wrote “Excellent” on my exam. I don’t think she wanted to draw attention to herself as the person who aced the exam, but I think these things are to be celebrated. I said, “I did excellent, too. Just not as excellent as you did.” It’s funny because this brings back memories of all those tests and homework assignments you would get back in kindergarten and grade school with the smiley faces and stickers and such. Everyone would always compete on who got the most smiley faces or stickers.

I like to tease Anna because I have a great admiration for her. She is super smart. She comprehends stuff really quickly and everything just seems to come so naturally to her. It’s like she does well without even trying. It’s almost effortless. She is just amazing. And she is so nice and so modest about it, too.

Anyway, it’s nice to be around her because she inspires me to do better. Many times if you are around people who don’t really care about doing well in class, or don’t care whether they get a good grade or not, then you tend to slack off and not try either. When you’re around people who do well in class, then you are inspired to do your best also. This is just one of the many reasons I like being around her. She makes me want to work harder, try harder, and just be better period.

This blog entry is for Anna, one of my real life idols. You rock, girl!

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30 on the 30th

Posted on October 10, 2007 by Ching under Life, Wishlist.

Guess who’s turning 30 on the 30th! Yes, sir. It’s the big one. Twenty days and counting! Here’s what I’m drooling over these days..

Gift cards are welcome, too! =P Jen asked me what I wanted, so I told her to just get me a Franklin Covey gift card. He he. Gift cards for J.Crew, Talbots, Ann Taylor, Gap, and Eddie Bauer will work too because I need to get some new work clothes.

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Mom’s 53rd Birthday at Legends

Posted on October 9, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr, Food and Drink, Web.

Mom and dad treated the entire family to champagne brunch at Legends at Airport Hilton last Sunday to celebrate mom’s 53rd birthday. Thank you mom and dad!

Here are some of the pictures we took..