If the economy is struggling, you would never know it

This Christmas season has been hectic. I have never seen so many people out shopping and driving. It took me 30 minutes to get from my house to Costco at 1 pm on Friday afternoon. And every day, afternoon, and evening for the past 2 weeks has been a traffic nightmare. It seems like all restaurants are busy, all inventory is low at all kinds of retail stores, and parking / lines / congestion is worse than I've seen in past shopping seasons.

I think it might be a good time for me to invest in some retail store stocks.

Move-in tips - For New Construction

If you ever have an opportunity to move into a new construction, whether it be a condo, townhome, or single family residence... make sure to test the phone lines and cable before you move in, and also make sure to notify the utility companies in advance that you'll be moving in.

It was the last thing on my mind, but as it turns out, the phone lines were fuzzy and the cable TV / internet lines hadn't even been hooked up yet. It's going to take Comcast 2 weeks to have someone come and hook cable up to the house (even though the house itself is already wired on the inside). Since Comcast was unable to come out to our house sooner (the earliest they could come was 2 weeks after we moved in), I will have gone at least a month without any kind of TV or high-speed cable internet.

And we just got the phone lines cleared up yesterday. Apparently, one of the RJ-45 lines had a mixed up wire in the GE Connection Center. Since that's been fixed, I may have to resort to dial-up internet in the meantime (before, the line was so full of static that no faxes would come or go, and no 56K internet connection would stay connected).

Suburban gas mileage - not much better while going to Whistler

I took the Chevy Suburban to Whistler with a full tank of gas, expecting to do a full round trip on one tank (round trip is about 450 miles, so with the 35 gallon tank, I would need to get 12.8 MPG). Couldn't make it. I pushed it about as far as it would go, and I went 403 miles on 33 gallons for a measly 12.2 miles per gallon.

Whistler was fun though. Went to the top of Blackcomb (just under 8,000 feet) and went nonstop to the bottom (I think it's at 2,200 feet) a couple times. Each time took me around 20 - 25 minutes, which is great, because the average trip down the mountain at the local Snoqualmie Summit West is about 30 - 35 seconds.

2001 Chevrolet Suburban 4WD gas mileage

Dang, just filled up my 01 Suburban, got 340.8 miles on over 32 gallons. That's only 10.65 miles per gallon! I hope it hits closer to 15 MPG on the way up to Whistler.

Move-in Day 14

After 14 straight days of moving into my new house, I feel like an old man. My back and hips hurt and I can barely lift some of the moving boxes. Still no internet, cable TV, and the phone line has a lot of static. But since it's close to Christmas time, nothing will get done until January.

With most of my properties sold, and the whole eviction thing over with, I'm ready to invest in some other properties, although I'm thinking of buying vacant land or something commercial this time.

And I'm also itching to buy a full size pickup truck, but hopefully that feeling will pass. If not, I'll post pics of the new ride on here if I end up getting one.

This weekend I'll be going snowboarding at Whistler, so I hope to relax!

New Personal Best & New Home

With all the stress and work I've been putting in, it finally paid off this week with 5 real estate transactions closing during a 7-day period, a new personal best! Although in all honesty, the last week of the month is always the busiest just because that's when real estate transactions usually close.

I'm hoping to have a chance to relax in the month of December, and settle into my new home that was just built by Boitano Construction. The owner of B.C., Jay Boitano, happens to have been my middle school gym teacher. He's probably the friendliest person you will ever meet in construction, and one of the few that I would trust.

Pictures of the home, and probably Evites for friends (housewarming), to come soon.

What a day, it was like CSI - Issaquah

Okay, so it wasn't really a crime scene, but today at my sister's place, we had a lot of cops, drama, an eviction, and a few other things going on.

The quick version of the story goes like this, my sister owns the house, she wants to sell it, but she can't sell it because there's a tenant in there. And unfortunately, that tenant was unable to make rent. Long story short, we evict her so that the new buyer can move in.

All of that sorta meshed together today.

10 AM was the cutoff time for the tenant to gather her items that were placed in the driveway. Since we drove by and everything was still on the property at 10 AM, my friend Mitch and I went to rent a U-Haul and my sister called a tow truck to remove 2 immobile cars. We had to get everything removed by 2 PM, which is when the new owner of the property would be coming for a visit.

Unfortunately, when we returned to the site, all heck broke loose with everyone showing up at once (the evicted party and their pickup trucks, tow truck, U-Haul, and my sister). Eventually about 4 Sheriffs and police officers showed up as well.

I think at one point, we had 14 vehicles at the location (3 pickup trucks, 4 Sheriffs, and many others).

I could understand the evicted parties position, it's hard to lose your home, and the contents of your home. But we wanted to get everything clean and ready for the new owner. I don't think they understood that fully. Also, they had 24 hours to remove it, not 26.

We allowed them some time to remove items (partly out of generosity and partly because we didn't want to clean it up), but it just took SO LONG, even though the Sheriffs kept reminding them they should hurry it up. 2 PM rolled by and the buyer showed up. It was embarrassing to say the least. But he was really understanding, so I felt pretty lucky to have a client like that.

I guess if I had to go back and do it differently, we should have just asked the Sheriff to have everyone leave, since they were all technically trespassing. That way, we could have taken 2 trips in the U-Haul and be done in about 30 minutes. But I don't think it would have been the most ethical, and they would have lost all their possessions.

Still, it was probably the weirdest day I've had in a long time (mainly due to smaller details that I won't go into here).

A grand for an Xbox 360?!@$#

Wow, I'm not a huge gamer, although I tend to go out and buy game systems when a good deal comes along. The new Xbox 360 has been tempting, especially after playing some of the demo games, and the fact that everything is in high definition (HD) quality. But, I wasn't willing to wait in line for it and I'm definitely not going to pay the $1,000 or so people are asking for on eBay and Craigslist. When did demand for it get so high? I thought I heard Microsoft release a press release that stated that each store will get more units each week.

Although it would have been cool to meet Bill Gates at the Bellevue Best Buy at midnight last night. Maybe just to slip him my resume and ask for a job in marketing. But it looks like they really don't need any help in the marketing deparment.

History of the K2 Enemy Twin Tip freestyle skis

I've been trying to sell my skis on eBay but it's been tough since it's hard to find information about them anywhere.

So I made this quick little website,

http://www.jinlee.us/k2enemy.html

It explains the 3 different graphics that were available for that model. Mine are the 2002-2003 K2 Enemy skis with the solid black base. I still don't know the specs, but it's a decent start.

While I'm at it, Auto Dealerships

Since I'm on a service industry rant, I'll add my automobile buying experiences to the list here.

Eastside Subaru in Kirkland - My sister had her Chevy keys unknowingly taken from her while she was on a test drive. She was ready to buy, but we felt like we were getting swindled so we walked out. However, our Chevy was at the "appraisal center" down the road without our permission. The worst part is that WE WEREN'T TRADING THE CAR IN. (And they weren't being very honest with us since they showed us a payment plan that was $10,000 down, $600 a month for 60 months for a car that was advertised as $21,771. In case you don't want to do the math, that's $46,000 in payments over 5 years.)

BMW of Bellevue - Service there is great. Now, if only I could afford more of their cars.

Acura of Bellevue - Hit or miss. Try to go with Jae the salesman, avoid EVERYONE else. This is the one dealership where I appreciated the finance lady (the one who tries to sell you add-on packages). She said flat out, "It seems like you're the type to change cars every few years, so you won't need an extended warranty." It's a nice change from the usual guilt trip they'll give you.

Unfortunately, the last time I went there, I didn't see Jae or that finance lady and we were treated like second class citizens who couldn't afford Acuras. Next thing you know, my sister's over at Barrier Motors buying a Benz. Sorry Acura, your loss.

Barrier Mercedes Benz in Bellevue. For a Benz dealer, you'd expect a lot more attitude. But they were extremely friendly.

Michael's Toyota - My family has bought 4 new Toyotas from them since 1992, and each time we felt like we got screwed. The buying experience there is too high pressure. Fortunately for them, my parents love Toyotas.

Honda of Bellevue - It's the opposite of Michael's Toyota. Low pressure, and enough inventory where you can haggle a little bit and say, "Come on, you've got 15 of these exact same ones in stock."

Chaplins in Bellevue - Where are all the salesmen? I've been there several times with friends, I don't think a salesman has ever approached us, whether we were in the showroom or the gated lot in the back.

A Case of the Mondays

Just wanted to rant about the service industry. I agree that with the internet and other advancements in technology, that companies are better able to adjust to their customers needs. However, why is it then that customer service everywhere seems to be taking a nose-dive?

Take for example, Monday evening I went to California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) in Bellevue for dinner. I like their food, but it's usually really busy there and the service is always hit or miss. I figured it wouldn't be so bad on a Monday night. I was right, we were seated immediately and there were plenty of empty tables.

Unfortunately, we got our menus, and then nothing else. The server never came to greet us, take our order, give us water, or bread, or anything. He did say for a quick second (as he dropped off drinks at another table), "I'll be right with you guys." But that was it. I don't think he even made eye contact with us. After 25-30 minutes, we left and went to Cheesecake Factory.

Sadly, others who sat before us at CPK sat waiting with their waters and were holding their menus still. They fared slightly better than we did I guess, since they at least had their water.

And just down the road from them, I recently had a miserable experience at King & I Thai on Main St. Their policy of "Gratuity will automatically be included for parties of 4 or more" is ridiculous. ALL their tables are made for 4 people!! So to me, it comes off as lazy to include gratuity when you're not doing any more work. Maybe if it was a situation where you have to put 2 tables together and move some things around, then I would understand.

But that isn't what made the experience miserable. It's because the last time I went there, I watched for 45 minutes as people who sat AFTER us received the exact dishes we ordered. We were forgotton about. It was the first time in my life where I left ZERO tip. Usually I'm compelled to leave something, for the cooks or busboys or someone. But not there. I'll choose Chantanee instead from now on.

Surprisingly enough, I went to KFC tonight and got GREAT service. I ordered some chicken and they warned me, "It might be about 10 minutes." I said, "I can wait. Thanks for letting me know."

After 10 minutes, the lady apologized sincerely for making me wait, gave us extra chicken AND free soda. I felt like I should have tipped her. Of course I'm comparing fast food to sit-down, so it's not an even comparison, but still, I felt like I got a bargain.

Other places where I always get great service are Noodle Boat (Thai) in Issaquah, Teriyaki Wok (right next to Noodle Boat), and Sushiland (aka Marinepolis) in Bellevue. And Sushiman, but I haven't been in the mood to pay a premium for sushi lately.

Moving is a Pain

Eventually on here, I hope to share some of my experiences in being a landlord, flipping homes, buying foreclosures, and all that real estate stuff that people always ask me about. But all in due time.

Right now however, I'm in the middle of moving. And this isn't just "moving into a dorm room" type of move. In November alone, my condo in Belltown has sold already, my condo in Federal sells this week, my condo in Issaquah sells next week, the eviction of a tenant at a house in May Valley will happen this week, and the new construction that I'm moving into will be ready in 16 days.

That means I need to do a TON of packing and moving. I pretty much have all my stuff piled into my mom's garage at this point, with a lot more still to go. My sister told me today that moving was rated the most stressful events in a person's life. I'd have to agree. Especially when I'm moving several residences into one (my mom's house) and then another (the new house).

The worst part is that I should be just throwing most of my stuff away, but I don't even have time to look through everything and figure out what's garbage or not. And selling everything takes time too. I tried listing about 20 items on Craigslist, which resulted in about 50 email replies in a couple hours. Most people wanted to come by to "take a look", but I didn't have time for that. I don't know why, but I always expect someone to just pay (using Paypal) and then I can ship it to them, even if it's local (I'm just used to eBay). But anyway, as soon as I saw all those emails, I removed every listing from Craigslist and deleted everything. It's not what I want to worry about right now.

XM radio versus C89.5 FM

Usally when I'm driving, I'll be listening to XM Radio or KOMO AM 1000 for traffic updates, but I happened to be in the Ranger yesterday (which has no satellite radio) so I flipped on 89.5 FM, a pretty cool local high school radio station that plays dance music.

Apparently their Fall Pledge Drive is going on this week. It's the time of year when they beg for money from listeners so they can stay on the air. I guess Seattle Public Schools cut off their funding years ago. That's gotta be a tough job, especially since their listener base seems to be mostly high school and college kids. It all reminds me of an episode of Saved By the Bell.

I just have to put in my two cents regarding paying for public radio. In 2003, I felt cheated when I paid for an underwriting spot with them. If I remember correctly, I paid for a week's worth of underwriting for the last week of November (when people would be getting their snowboard gear). Unfortunately, the Fall Pledge Drive that year ran way too long, and went right into my "underwriting week." Instead of moving me back a week, or another time in December, they decided to run their pledge drive right around my underwriting ads.

Oh well, I just try to think of it as my $1,500 donation to their pledge week. Even though now that I think about it, I could have paid for almost 10 years of XM Radio, while listening to 150 channels instead of just one.

Again, just my 2 cents.

Still, not to take anything away from what C89.5 does. Maybe one day I will feel compelled to donate some $ to them again (especially if satellite radio ever goes bust). But until then, I'm happy listening to the exact same songs on XM Channel 81, with a few exceptions for certain remixes.

Opening weekend at Crystal Mountain

My friends and I decided to go hit the slopes after a dismal 2004/05 winter season, even though historically for us, opening days/weekends have sucked (in the past, we've had lots of injuries and damaged snowboards and skis from hitting rocks and trees).

The only place open in Washington this past weekend was Crystal Mountain. I always thought of it as a skiers mountain, maybe because I went there mostly when I skied a lot, but mainly because they never really got into making decent halfpipes and terrain parks.

Nevertheless, the terrain there is always fun whether I'm on ski or board.

The drive up there only took 1 and a half hours from Bellevue. I was shocked when we pulled into one front row parking spots around 7:30 AM. There was a helicopter above and you could hear a lot of avalanche control being done. I was excited, expecting no crowds and lot of snowboarding.

We paid $45 for our lift tickets, which was a discount from the $50 regular price, so our first instinct was that there were "preseason" conditions. But thankfully we were wrong. The conditions were amazing. Not a single rock or tree branch showed through the groomed terrain, and there was powder to be had in a lot of places.

On the downside however, I don't think Crystal has a full staff yet. They only had 4 or 5 lifts operating all day, the average wait time was 45 minutes to get on a lift (until about 2:30 PM when things really died down), and they had no shuttle service running all day. There was even a long line that ran alongside the entire lodge to get lunch.

I think Mt Baker opens on Tuesday. I might go up there midweek to avoid the crowds, and then next weekend I might take the dogs up to Snoqualmie so they can play in the snow.

Pets --> Dogs --> Bichons

Took 2 cute pics of the dogs the other day. Thought I'd post them on here. Both dogs are Bichon Frises.

The first one is Brian, named after the family dog on Family Guy. The second one is Buster, named after the younger son on Arrested Development.

I think it's true what they say about dogs, especially these two, they do have a calming effect. Anytime I'm stressed out, I'll just go play with the dogs for a little bit. And one of the BEST things about owning Bichons is that they are non-shedding and hypoallergenic. So they don't shed all over my furniture.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more pics of them in the near future.

Review of the AngelTrax CATV2400

I've been looking for a device like this for a long time, so that I could get TV into one of the rooms in the home without using hundreds of feet of cable and wires.

After doing some extensive Google searching, many websites pointed to the CATV2400 by AngelTrax. The other alternative was to get a wireless LCD screen by Sharp, which works over the wireless broadband connection, for over $1,000, but I thought I'd try the cheaper option first.

Their website said that it was available at Best Buy, so I went to the one in Bellevue and found an Open Box model for $134.99, discounted from the MSRP of $150.

I took it home, and it setup in about 5 minutes as promised. I had the base setup in the family room right below the bedroom where the receiver was.

When I first turned the TV on, everything seemed to work great. I sat and watched TV for a few minutes and thought, "Hey, this isn't bad." It wasn't HD quality by any means, but that's not what I expected to see on the small 19 inch tube TV.

But as the family started coming home, and using the cordless phones, cell phones, wireless internet, and strangely turning lights on and off, the quality of the TV video and sound started to go bad.

I tried other channels (not TV channels, but different frequencies between the base and the receiver in order to minimize interference)... channel 2 was the worst. I could tell whenever a phone or computer was turned on because of all the static on the screen. The best was channel 4, but still not perfect. And strangely, the quality was worse when I turned the lights on.

The Verdict: If I only watched TV in the dark, late at night with everyone else asleep, this would be a sweet setup. And it's almost worth keeping because of the clean, nearly wire-free look it has when it's all connected, but I can't stand the "snap, snap, snap" static sound every few seconds. This one will have to go back.

First post ever to a blog

Today I've been stuck at home because Tmobile is shipping me a new cell phone via UPS and someone needs to be here to sign for it. So I thought I'd take the time to start up a Blog website, mainly to post some stuff about real estate, restaurant reviews, product reviews and anything else I might run into during the day.

It's a good thing though that I'm stuck at home because my back has been killing me all week and I needed the rest. I think I messed it up playing tennis on Sunday at the Sammamish Club. Plus, I'm hopefully going snowboarding this upcoming weekend, since Crystal Mountain is opening up.