Merry X-Mas?

Nothing says MERRY CHRISTMAS like a(nother) broken phone on X-mas day at 9pm.

My previous entry about my broken phone back in March 15 and Sept 15 apparently was not the end of my bad luck w/ motorola flip phones. Just when i was trying to coordinate meeting up w/ my high school friends, my mom pushed my phone to the cement thingy by the fireplace and my phone died.

this is what my phone looks like now:














as always, unfortunately, i do not have you guys's phone numbers memorized or saved or written down somewhere. i know i asked for it back in September already but i would really appreciate it if you can email it to me again. i dont know who, but i've had people who texted messaged me and giving me their phone numbers-- please do not do so as i cannot see the screen at all!!

merry post-x-mas. i'm off to cingular now in Cerritos.

Holiday get together

The BLs and BOs hosted a 2005 holiday gathering this Friday. it was really nice seeing so many of you here!! too bad we didn't get to go to a bar-- there's always next time. Hope you guys had fun. happy holidays everyone. i love the lights in our apt... too bad anny is not here to enjoy it with me.

Time to do Year-End Tax Planning

Due to popular demand, Dai Dai's Blog!!! is back in business! Debating whether to change it to "FunTaxTalkWithCindy" (a registered trademark) or not...

To start off, here are some pix of the wildest, most fun, accountants' company party:

neighbor and me



(former) best friend & me


i bet you didn't know there are lots of hot asian females in the accounting industry. my coworkers are cool and very nice people.



**********************************************
okay enough of the fun stuff, here's the SUPER fun stuff.

2005 is coming to an end, and it's time to plan ahead for the 2005 tax filings. You guys know how much i love helping people with taxes, so if you need help, let me know. your information will be confidential.

where can you find tax information? my favorite websites are:

http://www.irs.gov/
you can find the 2005 new tax rules and year-end planning ideas.

http://www.ftb.ca.gov
this is for california. it's fun to browse but not as fun as IRS website.

http://www.ss.ca.gov/
this is a GREAT website-- it's the Secretary of State website. you can look up companies (that are registered to do business in the state of california), and find the business filing date, place where records are held, and who established them. The search if only for c-corps, s-corps, LLCs, and LPs. For example, you can find a lot of GAP, Inc. entities in there. you can also find Wells Fargo Bank and Charles Schwab since they are CA based companies.

***************************************

This has been a special edition of FunTaxTalkWithCindy (a registered trademark). Stay tuned for another entry of FunTaxTalkWithCindy

Can you see the screen?

Neither can I. For the past few days, my phone has been pretty much un-usable. The screen died on me and so I can't call anyone cuz I don't have anyone's number memorized. PLEASE DO NOT TEXT ME OR EXPECT ME TO CALL YOU BACK IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE A MESSAGE. I can't call any of you back either b/c I can't see the "missed call". In fact, when I get a new phone, I probably will have to ask you for your number b/c I didn't store anything on my SIM card. Sounds crappy? Well, imagine it happened exactly SIX MONTHS EARLIER! I have come to a conclusion that Motorola sucks. As much as I love their stock, I hate their crappy phones.

Back in march, during the hectic CORPORATE TAX RETURN deadline of march 15, my semi-new MOT flip phone broke in half.








now, exactly half a year later, with the EXTENDED CORPORATE TAX RETURN deadline of 9/15, once again, my phone stopped working. Is it my luck or what. I don't think I can do any more corporate tax returns-- it brings me bad luck.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i just want to scream!

My Mom has IM

I thought 33's mom was cool cuz she reads 33's blog, but i realized that my mom is just as cool. how cool is my mother? She's so cool that she has an AIM account that i set up this past weekend when i went home for labor day. my mom is more computer literate than me and my sister! can you believe that. she is better at excel and she can type in chinese. she is indeed my idol.

apparently all the screen names i wanted to creat were taken. how cool would it be if my mom's screen name is "MomSays" or "ListenToMom" and then she starts typing.

so far her IM has only 2 friends-- me and cerena. who wants to talk to my mom and chat with her?

she also asked me about setting up a website. for those of you who don't know, she teaches chinese school. so she wants to make a website to post homework and stuff. i cannot believe my mom wants to learn all that. i'm impressed.

i'm debating whether i should tell her about my blog, cuz you know, sometimes we have alcohol/cig and party pictures. she'll probably freak out if she sees those. for now i'm keeping my blog a secret.

thanks for a good laugh eric!

this week has been blah. just lots and lots of work. and i feel so pressured to do a good job-- efficient AND accurate... i feel like ppl have such high demand and expectation. it's thursday night, and i feel a lot more relaxed now cuz i get to go home and do nothing this weekend!

i was just talking on IM with my friend eric tonight. eric is a smart and bright guy. he's just not too sharp when it is on IM. i can't blame eric for not thinking that way, cuz he's all the way in fob land-- HK. for those of you guys nearby and know about my recent pastime activity of watching saved by the bell, you'll get it. i was telling eric that i'm going to sleep, then i put on my "away" message. and this is our conversation:

Eric: nite!

Auto response from CxxxxxxCal: when i wake up in the morning and my alarm is out of warning and i dont think i'll make it on time....

Eric: do you need me to call you?
Me: eric u crack me up
Me: does my away msg seem familiar?
Me: try to rap/sing to it...what does it sound like to you
Eric: what's your away msg?
Me: wait
Me: dou mean CALL me now or wake me up
Me: i'm confused
Eric: i meant wake you up
Me: how come u asked if u need to call me to wake me up?
Eric: you said something about your alarm not waking you up?
Eric: or was that your away msg?
Me: oh that IS my away message

i was laughing so hard. i thought my away message is so obvious. next time when i put up Fresh Price of Bel Air song as my away message, i hope you guys will all get it. to give him the benefit of the doubt-- he says that his IM doesn't show the 'away' status that's why he didn't get it. hahahaha okay whatever it is, i thought it was funny. thanks for a good laugh mrP900!

free money!! lots of them!!

well, not exactly. but it did catch your attention right? currently i have approx 5 devoted readers of which 1 is forced to read it b/c she lives with me and i make her recite my blog entries. i think if i put catchy titles, more ppl will skim thru my blog. what do u think?

Tonight is another typical tax night-- working somewhat late and then taking the taxi home. I almost threw up in the taxi cuz the driver was driving so poorly, stopping incessantly, and honking at every car he sees. i realized i've had many many memorable drivers during my professional career here in downtown SF.

the coolest taxi driver i've had was this dot-com man who become one of the dot-bombs, he told me that he had his own startup and went bust. and now, he's a taxi driver. on a good day, he can make $200, but after the dot-bomb, he barely makes $100 a night. how sad...

and i've also had the priviledge of having bad bad drivers-- i had a south african taxi driver who i couldn't' understand a word he's saying cuz his english wasn't all that great. but the whole time he was driving me, he was talking to a woman on his cell phone!! i bet you it's his girlfriend. geez. he put my life in danger!

a had a couple of old taxi drivers, i always feel really sad when they drive me b/c i'm sure they are not doing it for fun late at night. last month, i had an old man who wore thick glasses and looked like he couldn't see well. i felt so bad for him. last week, another old taxi driver told me that he used to flip properties in Oakland in the 70s and 80s and did really well. and now he has to drive taxis b/c he made some bad investments. *sniff*

going back to today's driver--- now he was just CRAZY and horrible. i thought he looked Amish to me with the stereotypical facial hair and clothing. whatever ethnicity he was, he coudln't drive squat. he honked at all the other drivers-- but i think they were all his fault. and he called them names, like moran and stupid. i thought he was unstable, but i also thought i was on totally hidden video or something to show how riders react to crazy drivers. Unfortunately, i wasn't on tv. but thank god i made it home alive to make my world's-best-sandwich. i'm not bragging, i really make the best sandwich. along with my world's-best-chicken-soup, and my world's-best-creamy-corn-soup. yum!

the best mp3 player

since iPod is so ubiquitous, i was looking into other mp3 players that weren't so common.

i finally got the Samsung T-7Z mp3 player, with COLORED screen!! it is TINY. really really small. it's like the size of 2 matchboxes. it can hold pictures, has FM radio capability, and voice recording. it can be used as an alarm too. i'm in love with my new finding!

-------------------------------------------------

i realized tax is still tax. different company, same 'o work schedule. well, not as bad, but i realized that i REALLY do not like working until 8 or 9 every day. i think i'm too old to be working such long hours, with no weekends in sight.

i really enjoying helping the low-income chinese people with their financial planning or tax returns. like explaining them what kind of tax credits and what they should do with their money. hmmm... a financial advisor job sounds fun! i'm gong to start giving out stock tips on my blog, maybe if i'm good i really should reconsider my career. stock tip of the day--- VISG

Panny Party Pictures

Birthday girls:


















my neighbor:

















best pledge class (hi mrs. t. chiu and mrs. j. kim!!):















anny and her best roomate (not-self-proclaimed. u can see proof on anny's blog)
















the hsieh sisters (please, no stalking):


















the hsieh sisters and our adopted brother, henry hsieh (he's going to kill me):

bayareacheaters.com

Why are men more likely to cheat? Why do they like to date multiple people at the same time? Why are they so unfaithful? throughout history, it has always been the emperors, kings, conquerors, and whatever rulers who have a harem of women.

for those of you who heard what happened (not to me), well, i was SO mad that i thought about starting a website called bayareacheaters.com.

you have to admit, that would be a popular and hilarious website. i can feature cheaters in the bay area so they will NEVER date again in the bay area. and i have the perfect candidate in mind as our first featured cheater. puHaHaHaHa.

this domain name has not been taken yet, i might buy it for kicks. i'm wondering if it becomes a popular website, can the featured cheaters sue me? i mean, it's not like they are 'rumors,' b/c i am posting the truth. can they sue me for defamation tho? but henry pointed out that we have the freedom of speech--so if that is the case, i can post whatever as long as they are true.

okay, so, if i do do it, how many of you might be on there? i dont want to expose you guys =) i'm joking. knowing me, i'm too lazy to do anything.

happy monday. 4 more days to go til the weekend!

Why do people lock their doors

I generally associate locking door with safety. For example, you lock your door at night to prevent thieves. Another example, you lock your car door when you see scary people or are driving thru a scary neighborhood.

Why would a person lock her room door when there are only two people in the apartment? Say, if you have a roomate, and it's 9pm at night and you are doing ur own things in ur own rooms, and you walk over to the other person's room and it is LOCKED. is it suspicious or what. what can your roommate possibly be doing that requires a LOCKED door. i mean, it's not weird if the door is closed, cuz i know people need privacy. but locked... hmmm. you know the roomate is awake, cuz you have been chatting w/ ur roommate on AIM just two seconds ago, and the light is on, and u hear music.... so weird.

Why can't your roommate lock or close the door when she is singing loudly?

I'm kidding anny. Oops did I accidentally disclose the name of the anonymous roommate...

I'm gonna have to start locking my doors too to see what the fuss is all about. I dont think i have ever locked my room. for some reason, every room i've had never had a lock until this SF apt.

here's the link to the PANNY Party. why is it that sandy and i are always the only ones more drunk and puke at parties.

Technologically Disadvantaged

I am kinda frustrated right now because I CANNOT FIND A PLACE TO LINK ALL U GUYS'S BLOG! the template i am using sucks! i went into the 'template' section and it gave me a bunch of HTML codes-- which frustrates me even MORE because i USED TO BE SO DAMN GOOD at HTML coding back in 1997!!!

Remember IDS 110, the class that teaches u how to code websites? Man I thought i kicked ass in that class, but apparently i'm illiterate now with all the advancement in technology. This is the website I made in 1997 w/ a partner, i found it last month while i was cleaning out my old computer. Keep in mind we HAND CODED every part:



Intro page says: click on the picture if you are ready to BLAST OFF INTO SPACE!!!










this is the main page











this is our summary page of the solar system.











oh, and in case you are wondering how/why I post so many entries a day, or why i suddenly update it daily, it's because i am not working this week. i'm so burnt out and i can't work long hours like i used to. i can barely work 8 hrs nowadays. it's been fun staying at home, but there is nothing to watch on TV! right now, they are showing "e-true hollywood story: Baywatch". Trust me, this is not very interesting.
*yawn*

Hot Off the Press-- World's Best University: UC Berkeley

It's one thing if I 'claim' Berkeley is the best school, but it's another if a reliable source backs me up. Once again, CAL has made us proud by maintaining its #1 ranking for public schools.

The annual ranking of American colleges published by US News will hit the stands next monday. Luckily for you guys, my devoted blog readers, u're getting the list first at my informational blog:

1. Harvard / Princeton (tied again!)
3. Yale
4 University of Pennsylvania
5 Duke University (NC)
5. Stanfuuuuurd
7 California Institute of Technology
7 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
9 Columbia University (NY)
9 Dartmouth College (NH)
11 Washington University in St. Louis
12 Northwestern University (IL)
13 Cornell University (NY)
13 Johns Hopkins University (MD)
15 Brown University (RI)
15 University of Chicago
17 Rice University (TX)
18 University of Notre Dame (IN)
18 Vanderbilt University (TN)
20 Emory University (GA)
----------- (skipping to the section we care about) ------------
20 University of California - Berkeley *
22 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
23 Georgetown University (DC)
23 University of Virginia *
25 Univ. of California - Los Angeles *
25 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor *
27 Tufts University (MA)
27 U. of North Carolina - Chapel Hill *
27 Wake Forest University (NC)
30 Univ. of Southern California

As you can see, UC Berkeley is the #1 public university once again!!!! Go bears! In terms of ranking, there's no way we can compete w/ the private school folks who pay their way to graduation. we actually earned ours!! (puHaHaHa i bet i just offended a lot of people. i'm joking, really.) Well, all i can say to our rival school-- Tedfuuurd: we excel not only academically, but also SOCIALLY!!!


http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php

New Gym in SF -- Now Accepting Members

does that look like a great work out place or what-- spacious and complete w/ all your basic equipments. i just need to charge enough so i can recover the equipment cost.

anny and i took a picture of all the exercisig stuff we have in our apt-- surprisingly, all but the yoga mat is mine. i have not yet lost ONE POUND!!!! i just bought the equipments because they look easy and look fun. its's kinda cool cuz next time when you guys come over, you guys can excercise with us!

it's wednesday, and i am not working. i really enjoy staying home and resting. hmmm... goin to try to read/study a bit today.

happy wednesday for all you working bees! see you on friday at the party!

My New Fav Show-- Hi Jinks

Now that my fav shows have all ended (namely "Friends"), I don't really watch any new TV shows. Recently I have discovered "4400", "Law and Order", "CSI", "The Dead Zone". The most interesting show I have grown to love is Hi-Jinks, every Tuesday from 9:30-10pm on Channel 53.

Hi Jinks is a show where the adults prank kids. Oh it is HILARIOUS. it's really funny to see the kids' reactions. You all should watch it. Come over and watch it if you are too embarrassed to watch by yourself. It's a great bonding activity, I think I'm going to make that a weekly ritual for me and my roommate.







Legal Disclaimer-- this logo is a property of http://www.tvland.com/nickatnite/hijinks/index.jhtml, i am not in any affiliation with Nick-At-Nite nor am I using this for profit.

Peter Jennings / 1st Day of Work

-------- A Must Read for my SoulMate DumbDumb ----------
-------- (p.s. i'm glad u're not moving away from the B.A.) -------------

Peter Charles Jennings was one of the greatest anchor of all time. Tonight's Larry King Live (that will have to be another blog if DumbDumb doesn't know who he is), his counterparts/long-time rivals such as Barbara Walters, Dan Rather, and Tom Brokaw (sp?) all came to pay their respect on the show to Peter Jennings. It was very touching b/c it showed another side of Jennings that we cannot see from just his reports on TV.

DumbDumb, this is what Peter Jennings look like:













------------- My 1st Day of Work -----------

As appreciative as I am to have a new job and new life, I am not ready and not motivated to work cuz I don't feel like I have rested enuf. I wish I showed more excitement at work today. I guess people can tell i wasn't too enthusiastic.

My coworkers seem very nice, but very very quiet. Maybe this is the characteristics of tax people. I guess I am not surprised. All I did was orientation stuff. I have 2 tax returns lined up for me to review already! Wow, I can't imagine reviewing another tax return... so not ready!! okay time to suck it up and get ready for another day.... 4 more days to go til the weekend!!

This Weekend

This weekend was very chill. Yesterday I met up w/ Gina and Tommy! I feel like I haven't seen them forever. Garsh, i met them back in Jeanna's dorms in 1997, it's been such a long time. I still remember Tommy making candles for us and baking his famous pies, and hanging out w/ Gina back in orange county... the good 'o days!

Here's Tommy w/ his sister












Here's the 3 of us.












---------------- Tomorrow -------------------------

Why must we work? How come I can't win the lottery? Yes, these are life's mysteries. I have to work tomorrow can you believe it!!! I'm so not ready... I mean, I am excited to start my new job, but i feel like i haven't done much or rested well enough.

--------- Individual Tax Returns: Extended Due Date 8/15/05 ------------

The extended tax returns are due on 8/15--I finally worked on my own tax returns this morning. I probably have reviewed over 100 tax returns this year, but sadly to say, i have not done mine til now. Guess I'll have to go to the post office tomorrow to mail them. For those of you who have not turned 'em in, make sure you do your tax returns so you can back money back from (or pay) Uncle Sam!! Remember, extension to file your tax return does not mean extension to pay your tax liabilities.

--------- News: Peter Jennings Passed Away -----------

I was shocked when I heard Peter Jennings passed away. He has been the anchor for decades and has really become the face/voice of reputable news reporting. So sad. All these anchors we grew up with are either retiring or passing away.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8864210/

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/08/07/jennings.obit/index.html

Coming to an end

The past 3 weeks has gone by so fast, it's scary. In about 3 days, I will start my 3rd job. I feel like I haven't even started resting, and my holidays are over. If people ask me what i have done, this is how I viewed my time-off: 1/3 has been spent cleaning/organizing, 1/6 is studying, 1/6 is seeing friends, 1/3 of my time off is being sick and having health problems!!

Today was fun, I finally saw Cortney after many many months! I'm kinda sad she's moving away... less and less friends are in the bay area. WHY IS EVERYONE MOVING!?!? Well, i'm glad u got into a great MBA program Cortney! When you make it big don't forget to hire me!

Here are some pix from today's lunch with Henry and Cortney:

a doctor's mistake causes a patient (me) a lot of pain!

Those of you who have seen me during the past few days have seen my skin getting from bad to worse. I finally couldn't take the itching as well as the swelling so i activated my COBRA insurance and went to the dermatologist.

i love my dermatologist, he's a very nice and a knowledgeable guy. my skin is SO BAD right now and during our session today, he kept on mentioning this "blahblah" cream and i said "no, you gave me this other cream to use". and he was apologetic and said "there must've been a miscommunication with the nurse". yes, there's prb mis-communication, but my arms and legs have gotten worse b/c of the wrong medicine.

at first i thought it was the flea problem getting worse, but now that it's taken care of, it's actually the MEDICINE!!! he told the nurse to give me a anti-inflammation medicine... the only way to inject it is on my butt! oh my goodness, i have not gotten a needle on my butt for over a decade or two probably. oh the horror...

next week when i start my new job, i hope it'll recover by then or else my coworker will think i have some skin disease. yuck!

Vacuum Cleaner

This morning the flea control person came and kicked me out of the apartment for a few hours because he needed to spray the carpet to kill the fleas. He also recommended that we vacuum at least twice a week for the next 2 months to make sure all the existing fleas and flea eggs are picked up.

Since our old vacuum cleaner exploded last month, it was time to buy a new one. I went to Best Buy and picked up this cutie:


Eureka 431A Optima Lightweight Upright Vacuum



















I just got home and looked online, apparently, this vacuum cleaner has pretty good reviews for something this size and price. Did you know that a regular size vacuum cleaner has 12amps but weighs at least twice the weight of the one i bought. Apparently 12 AMPs is the standard, b/c it's on the description of every vac cleaner (except for the high end ones). This vacuum cleaner is LIME GREEN and only weighs 11 LBS! I can't wait to use it!