Real Estate

Wow, it's been a while since my last posting. Lots of things happened between now and then but I guess it's too late to go back and summarize it now so let's focus on what's going on recently.

As many of you know, we have been searching for a house/townhouse for quite a while... We begin our searching when mortgage rate is in low 4% to now just peak 7%. We went to countless open houses and private showings every weekends at the end we still couldn't find anything we both like and within a reasonable affordable price range. We start to wonder... Will we ever find something we like and still be able to afford it? Yes, we did find several properties we like after we refine our search criteria and focusing on townhouse only. Now we are in a different stage of frustration and stress of buying a property... Dealing with multiple offers and the negotiations comes with that!

We are not the only buyer in this crazy housing market and a good property always attracts multiple offers and a bidding war starts. We got frustrated when our better than full price offer wasn't good enough because there is a way better than full price offer out there. Another time, the seller's agent juggled more than one offers and played the game of poker - raise your bet or fold. Each time we walked away with bitter taste in our mouth and felt defeated but we also learned some valuable lessons and tricks so we won't make the same mistakes next time.

So did we finally found our dream house and got it? Soon I can tell you that :)

One year older

Today, many people asked me what I did last night and where did i go? Why? It's because yesterday was my birthday. People expected me to do something or received something special. Should I? I wondered...

I didn't choose yesterday to be my birthday nor did I contribute anything so why should I celebrate something I didn't partake? Shouldn't we celebrate birthday dinner with our parents? instead of friends? Shouldn't we write a thank you card to our parents? instead of getting a happy birthday card from friends? Why should a birthday be 'happy'? I guess I am happy that both of my parents are still alive and well; I am happy that I know yesterday was my birthday; I am happy that people care about me to do something for me.

Thank you all for remembering it. There are many birthdays waits for me ahead, and I will be looking forward to every single one of them.

p.s. people in my new office tried to guess how old I am.... Their guesses are 22, 26, 27. So I should also be happy about that too :)

Millionaire Life!

Another ticket, another dream. This time it's the millionaire life lotto. Aim High, Work smart, Dream a little!

I did it!

From What I did on...

After preparing it for exactly one year, I finally took the exam and passed it. It's an exam for Network+ certification. I have to say it's good idea that the exam voucher only good for one year. Otherwise I will keep on postponing the exam again and again. I must had rescheduled the exam like 10 times in the past 12 months due to various reasons - vacation, work, illness, or just for no good reason at all. I finally did it not because I am ready, but because the voucher will expire in one week :)

Now I have to prepare the next exam on my to-do list, hope this time I will be more aggressive on completing them... I doubt it, hahaha...

You never know!

Today, I finally checked the three lotto tickets I purchased back in December, 2006. Two Super 7 tickets and one 649 tickets.

Since I already knew that I wasn't the lucky jackpot winner for either. So I have very little hope on winning any prize. But guess what? I did win something :)

The total winning are $10 cash from 649 and one free play for Super 7 ticket. I guess it's not bad for a total of $14 investment back then. Now I am $10 richer and got another chance of winning this week's Super 7 jack pot. Life is good...

p.s. The lady at the lotto booth told me to always sign the back of the ticket first before you get it checked. This can prevent your ticket to be swapped or prevent you to frame them for swapping the tickets. Something I never thought of before

Is he me ? Am I him?

My boss found this picture online and she thinks the guy in the picture is me! What do you think?