New Bedroom Set

Earlier today, I got a Costco newsletter showing me this bedroom set: Carolina Bedroom Collection for $1699.99. It was really pretty:

carolina bedroom collectioncarolina bedroom collectioncarolina bedroom collectioncarolina bedroom collectioncarolina bedroom collection

Though the $1700 price tag was hard to swallow and it didn’t even include the mattress. What finally help make up my mind was the fact that it would be delivered in approximately 4-6 weeks. My mom, sister, and grandma were coming up to visit in 2 weeks and yah… I don’t have enough beds.

So after work today, I drove to Costco Home and took the dive and purchased the Modus Furniture 5PC Queen Bedroom Set Nouveau II and PosturePedic Sterlingshire Firm Queen Set I had mentioned earlier. The total came to $2,121.35 after tax + delivery/assembly. The process was simple and the thing I like about purchasing stuff at Costco is that there’s no salesman pressure. My initial calculation was a bit off. I was told delivery/assembly was $129 for first piece + $19 for each additional piece and that the 5 piece bedroom set counted as 5 separate pieces. Turns out I think the person I initially asked was confused and thought I was purchasing 5 separate pieces. Apparently if you buy the entire set, it counts as 1 piece. So after this purchase, I have a little over $100 remaining from my tax refund.

Delivery is set for next week, so with plenty of time to spare. I’ll take pictures when it’s all set up and pretty.

Shopping (Un)Luck

I must have the worse shopping luck ever today. So I get up early today (yes, 12pm is early for a Saturday) to go get my haircut. The place I like is all the way in RTC (Redmond Town Center) and they’re only open till 2pm on Saturday and closed on Sunday.

———

I was hoping to drop by Evergreen Autoglass afterwards to get my rock chip in my windshield patched. However when I get there, it’s now an empty shop with the sign: “We have moved, please call this #.” I called the # and it turns out they’ve moved to Monroe and won’t be open till Monday. Unfortunately I’m not willing to drive all the way to Monroe to get my windshield repaired, but apparently they offer mobile repair service for $25 more ($15 for the rock chip repair and $25 for the mobile service, totaling $40). I could’ve probably found another place, but being lazy and the fact they did good jobs the previous 2x, I decided to take them up on this offer and scheduled for them to drop by my work place on Monday. Yes, my car’s windshield appears to attract rocks like a magnet. I’ve gotten 3 rock chips since I moved to Washington.

———

Next I did my weekly Costco run (more Mexican Coke!). I was also there to pick up some windshield wipers, since apparently mine were starting to tear. Looking at the chart, it showed:

01 Civic D.S. 20″
01 Civic P.S. 18″

I had previously measured my windshield wiper blade and it was about 21″. I looked down and found out that D.S. = driver side and P.S. = passenger side. I didn’t think they were 2 different sizes and didn’t measure the passenger size. Worse of all, these windshield wipers came in packs of 2s. So there were 2x 18″, 2x 20″, and 2x 22″. Did that mean I needed to get 2 18″s and 2 20″s? Why the heck aren’t they selling in singles when many of the cars on that chart don’t have the same length blades on each side. Since this was Costco, I decided I would just get a spare for later on. When I get home, I find out that the measurements they gave me were incorrect. The passenger side is actually 20″. So I decided I would install the 20″s and return the 18″s. But wait… apparently these blades which listed my car’s make and model don’t actually fit the stupid hook. I tried jamming it in and even tried to ply apart the hook to make it wider. I finally gave up after 30 minutes or so.

I started researching online and it turns out that people don’t actually recommend replacing the entire blade, just the rubber insert, and those cost like only $6 a piece at Honda dealerships. I gave my Honda dealership a call, but unfortunately their service department that sold it was closed and won’t be open till Monday. Grrrr.

I then remember I still had my previous windshield wiper inserts that I had removed and they were fine when I removed them. I went digging through my car parts box and found them. I replaced the inserts and now my windshield wipers are working fine again. Looks like I don’t need new windshield wiper inserts after all. I’ll be returning the windshield wiper blades to Costco, probably next week.

———

I finally started searching for a new bed/bedroom set. For those who know me, I’m not that big on furniture as all my bedrooms are pretty bare and I still sleep on my twin bed I had in college (or I may have exchanged it with my brother’s twin bed). Anyway, my mom’s been telling me to get a dresser since I still store my undergarment in my suitcase. She said I also need more beds for when they come visit me, they’ll have a place to sleep too. So I’ve been meaning to check out beds and given that I went to the Kirkland Costco today, I dropped by Costco Home. I was surprised by how expensive these bedroom sets were. There was really only 1 set I liked at Costco Home and it was $1099 excluding the mattress. The mattress I liked (Sealy Posturepedic Sterlingshire Firm) would cost another $699. Who knew mattresses were this expensive! Delivery included assembly and that would cost an additional $129 for 1st item + $19 for each additional item. The idea of spending my entire tax refund on a bedroom set did not sit well with me.

I then dropped by Dania Furniture (another couple blocks away from Costco Home) and I was much more fond of their designs and the bedroom sets were relatively the same price as Costco. The ones I liked ranged from $800 to $1100, but they weren’t really a mattress store and only carried Simmons. The mattresses were also scattered all around the store so it was hard to compare. The few that I tried didn’t really feel that great and their mattresses were more expensive than Costco. However, I didn’t want to order just a mattress from Costco and be charged $129 for delivery. Delivery at Dania was only $75 for everything, but assembly would be an additional $20-30/item.

I’ve checked IKEA awhile back and they had some decent designs. I should probably drop by there again. Also, if anyone of you have good suggestions on which stores to check out, please do let me know.

Argggghh… That’s why I hate furniture shopping. I’d rather spend my money on toys and electronics.

Update:
So after contemplating it over the night, I’m thinking of just going the Costco route since it’s the path of least resistance. I’ve uploaded the pictures I’ve taken with my cell phone:

Costco Home – Modus Furniture 5pc Queen Bedroom Set Nouveau II:
costco home - modus furniture 5pc queen bedroom set nouveau IIcostco home - modus furniture 5pc queen bedroom set nouveau IIcostco home - modus furniture 5pc queen bedroom set nouveau IIcostco home - modus furniture 5pc queen bedroom set nouveau II
I’ll probably end up getting this set.

Dania Furniture:
dania furniture bedroom setdania furniture bedroom set

dania furniture bedroom setdania furniture bedroom set
I really like this set ($1049 for Queen / $1099 for King). The image of the bed shown is a Full size, but they offer it in a Queen size too. I’ve given up on the King sizes since King mattress sets apparently cost $250-300 more)

dania furniture bedroom setdania furniture bedroom set

Long Week

It’s been quite a long week at work. I went in on both Saturday and Sunday of the previous weekend for about 6hrs/day (though I probably goofed off about half the time I was there). Then on Monday to Wednesday, I got into work around 12-1pm, but didn’t leave until after 2am, the latest being 5:30am. Thank god I got most of the work done by Thursday afternoon, because I wasn’t sure I could take another 14-17hr work day. Thursday and Friday turned out to be great and I got to play Rock Band with a bunch of friends on Friday night.

If you missed my 10 Signs You’ve Worked Too Late, you should check it out.

10 Signs You’ve Worked Too Late

Not in any particular order.

  1. The sun is rising.
  2. People are starting to come into the office.
  3. You have a giant pile of candy wrappers and empty soda cans around your desk.
  4. You’ve realized it’s been 17 hours since you entered the office on the previous day.
  5. On your way home, there’s actually more traffic going the opposite direction.
  6. You no longer feel tired.
  7. You reminisce the good old college days where you pull all nighters trying to complete a project due the next day.
  8. You keep refreshing your RSS feed aggregator hoping for new content, but there’s none.
  9. But when there is, you’re super happy.
  10. You start contemplating about sleeping over at work to save yourself the 40 minute round trip.

Cute Cat Animation

Was going to post about some cool new tablet applications I found, but that’ll have to wait.

I forget where I got this video from (probably Digg), but Apparently I got this link from Hjo3. I sent it to a few friends earlier and this has been sitting in the queue, waiting to be posted. Since Tekman and Angel-grrl are getting a new cat, I thought it was an appropriate time to post it:

Wake up Cat
Wake up Cat

‘Wake Up Cat’ is by an English animator called Simon Tofield and it is actually called ‘Cat Man Do’. He works for an animation company called Tandem Films.

After you watch this, you’ll realize why cats are evil.

Book Rental…

So these past few weeks, I’ve been hearing this commercial on the radio touting that they’re the Netflix of books, where you pay a monthly subscription and you can rent out 2, 3, or 4 books at a time. There’s no late fees and the books are mailed to your door. This struck me immediately as very odd since this sounds like a service that wants to replace the library which is a FREE service.

Fuzzywuzzy posted this screenshot:
book rental service

book rental service? – Selekta

was just thinking. my sister does -alot- of reading, and spends like $1000 a year on just books alone. most of them she reads once then never looks at again. is there any kind of like…video rental store but for books? would make things alot cheaper, plus once one person has read the next person can get enjoyment from it etc

And this prompted me to blog about it. I don’t exactly recall the name of the book rental service that was advertised on the radio, but BookSwim sounds awfully close. There was also Booksfree.com, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the one that was advertised on the radio. I understand libraries can sometimes be horrible, but as library gets more and more modernized, I can’t see a book rental service as hardly useful. The libraries here in Seattle allows you to reserve books online and when the book is ready for pickup, it sends you an email.

I talked this over a bit with RayAlome, and there are some downsides to the library:

  • Books have due dates (usually ~2 weeks). They can typically be renewed, unless it’s new or someone else has reserved it.
  • There might be a long queue for new books (i.e. Harry Potter), but just like Netflix, I don’t think a book rental service can guarantee you’ll get new releases immediately either, but they might be faster than the library in getting you the book.
  • You have to actually go to the library to pick up your book, instead of having them mail it to you.

I also found some problems that a book rental service has that a DVD service doesn’t. First, books comes in different shapes and sizes, while DVDs are a 1 size fit all. Therefore packaging material needs to be customized or be highly flexible. Books aren’t exactly light either, though with medial mail, you can still ship 2lbs for under $3. However, that might mean it’ll take up to 8 days for the book to get to you and going back also takes that amount of time. I don’t see them having warehouses in different parts of the country set up like Netflix, since they’re barely starting, but maybe they’ll have some sort of agreement with USPS or UPS to have faster shipping for cheap.

We also talked about the Amazon.com Kindle, but that’s a story for another time.

Five-Minute Management Course

Source: MS Distribution List

Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, “Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies. “Great,” the husband says, “did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest apologized “Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.” Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, “Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.”

Moral of the story:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish.” “Me first! Me first!” says the admin clerk. “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.” Puff! She’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep. “I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.” Puff! He’s gone. “OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

Moral of the story:
Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing?” The eagle answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5:
A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree” sighed the turkey, “but I haven’t got the energy.” Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?” replied the bull. They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there..

Lesson 6:
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

Relaying Salutations

A month ago when Liam came to Seattle, he told me to say hi to Cari for him when I went back to LA. I believe I actually did relay this message, but it got me thinking to how often do I actually relay salutations. I would have to say only once in a blue moon. I recall people telling me to say hi to my parents when I go back or friends telling me to tell other friends, but usually, it just never kicks in when I actually meet the person.

I’m curious how other people fare. What % of the time do you actually relay salutations, either from relatives or friends or anyone. I would say my percentage is probably less than 5%. It’s probably much lower since I can’t really recall all the times I’ve had people ask me to relay salutations.

UPDATE:

After talking to RayAlome, I think several other factors come into play. For time being, person asking me to relay will be called Origin and the person I’m suppose to relay to will be called Destination.

  • How far away is Origin from Destination?
  • How long has it been since they’ve seen each other?
  • How well do I know Origin?
  • How well do I know Destination?
  • How well do I think Origin knows Destination?
  • How many of these requests do I actually get?
  • How long has it been since Origin made his request and I actually meeting Destination?

Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I’m not much of a resolutions type of guy, so I never make resolutions for the next year. It’s probably because if it’s important enough, I’ll do it w/o even making a resolution. If not, I’d end up giving up anyway. So there really isn’t any point.

Since Xyon posted his 2007 ventures, here’s a look back at my 2007:

  • Noticed I was getting fat
  • Got into cardio exercising (exercise bike + elliptical)
  • Got into strength building (Ungsunghero being my advisor)
  • Started on my HD-Trailers.net project
  • Built my home theater setup
  • Built my new File Server (I know I still owe you a blog post on that – since I’ve gotten my 6th and last hard drive, it’s planned to be written after I install it)
  • Hurt my wrist and had to wear a splint for about a month
  • Discovered M&M Dark Chocolate
  • Found Mexi-Coke
  • Found a giant hole in one of my tooth
  • Got my first speeding ticket
  • Got my first speeding ticket nullified
  • Discovered Rainbow Sherbert ice cream had a different name: Pineapple, Raspberry & Orange Sherbet
  • Had my first flat tire
  • Dressed up for Halloween for the 1st time since… elementary school?
  • Read a book voluntarily for the 1st time since… elementary school?

My mail got delivered in a big chunk today and it took an hour going through all the mail. At least 1/5 of it was rebates. I got a total of a 14 rebate checks, totaling a sum of $525. That was nice.

Also got this Maker’s Mark gift (I had signed up for some freebie thing back in college, and they continue to send me neat things every year). This time, it was a wax seal stamp:
maker's mark wax seal stampmaker's mark wax seal stampmaker's mark wax seal stamp

I wonder if this wax will work with my ink stamp.