I am thankful

I am thankful that...

I have YOU. When you come home and give me a hug, I cheer up again.
I have a piano. I don't feel lonely. Time goes faster when I play it.
My friends always have me in their minds. Being my listeners when I complain.
I am healthy. I don't need to take any medicines or get any surgeries.
I am not lacking of anything. I feel very contented.

When trust has been broken

it's broken. Do you believe trust can be restored?

I am doomed to fail from the very beginning.

The FedEx lawsuit. Busted! Ha Ha!!

Source:http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/CutYourTaxes/AreYouPayingYourBosssTaxes.aspx

GREAT! The KGB (Oh, I mean the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service) is auditing FedEx for 2004-2006. They misclassified their delivery workers as ''independent contractors''. The truth is they are employees!! As stated in the article, ''Why do companies like independents? Simple. It saves them a bundle of money. If you're an independent contractor, the company doesn't pay state workers compensation or federal unemployment and disability taxes. It is released from matching your 7.65% Social Security and Medicare taxes; an independent contractor pays the full 15.3% load. In addition, the employer is saved the burden and cost of income-tax withholding. The worker has to remit the appropriate payments. Independent contractors don't qualify under minimum-wage laws and have no government rights to a safe work environment. And they can't qualify for employee benefits.''

I was really, really MAD when I was pushed to apply for a business license from the city to work as an indepedent contractor while I was working as an employee: I didn't have my own working schedule!! I didn't *rent* my own treatment room!! I worked at an absolutely unprofessional environment. The worst thing? She told everyone else not to let me know that I was the ONLY independent contractor while others were switched to employees AFTER I applied the business license to be an contractor. I knew it later when my co-worker, Brandy told me about it.

''For employers who are caught misclassifying, monetary pain is just the beginning. They can be criminally charged with evasion of payments, filing of false tax returns and conspiracy. Another tax code section, Section 7202, makes it a felony to willfully fail to collect or pay tax to the government. And it should be. In such cases, the employers are stealing from the employees. If workers are treated as independent contractors, they are responsible for 100% of their payroll taxes. They're paying twice what they truly owe for Social Security and Medicare. The difference goes into the employers' pockets.''

Yes, I suffered a lot. So was my spouse. It messed up our taxes and brought tension to our marriage last year. It stressed us out!

''If you think you're being misclassified, file Form SS-8 and have the IRS make a determination of your status. Remember, it's a 20-factor test, so the final resolution will be subjective. If you have been misclassified, Form 8919, Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages (.pdf download) should be filed to ensure that the proper Social Security and Medicare taxes are credited to your account. Don't use the older form, No. 4137.''

I didn't know I could sue her. I should have done that. She'll be audited by the IRS. Gosh, you know, never mess things up with the IRS. THEY CAN DO ANYTHING TO YOU!!

Fortunately, I am no longer relating to this evil spa anymore.

FedEx, I sincerely hope you will lose in the lawsuit and pay $1 billion for what you did. It costs a lot to be deceitful!!

Bankruptcy!!!!!!

What a sad news...I've just heard that Sharper Image has filed for bankruptcy protection due to losing money in 11 out of last 13 quarters. -___- It's a nice store for high-tech gadgets. Sad.

Identity Theft

Calm down, nothing bad happened. Indeed, I am the identity thief!! Hahaha!! This is NOT my puppy. This is my friend, Nadine's puppy. Oops, I forgot her name. She got a puppy while working in North Carolina. I loved the pic she sent me so much that I used it as my display picture on facebook. Please don't beat me, Nadine!!

Our Valentine's Day and a bad movie

Hehehe...first of all, he had a surprise from me. Now, I need to think about something new next time. Maybe a cake? or cookies? Anything sweet will work! Cause he is Mr.Willy Wonka. I called him to buy some sashimi for me to make sushi for dinner. It takes me an hour to prepare the food each time. Since I was afraid of gaining pounds after eating carbs, I vacuumed the whole house, danced and exercises in the afternoon to burn calories. I probably will do it again later today. So we had sushi for dinner and watched a movie we rented, called 'Elizabeth Town'. OH MY LORD!! We were very disappointed. Even though I like Orlando Bloom and Kristen Dunst, the story was so boring. We thought it's a romantic comedy. We didn't finish the movie..... I looked up the reviews online and found quite a lot of comments. Bad ones.... I'd rather watch South Park... ~_~

Valentine's Day surprise and my memory...

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

What are you going to do with your sweetheart? I'm going to give him a surprise. Today, I baked a pan of fudge brownie and cut it with heart-shaped cookie cutter. Made some simple frosting, colored it. Pink. Drizzled the frosting on top. Put it in a box. Keep it in the fridge. At first, I was planning to hide the box and the rest of the brownie in the pan. -_- But he came home earlier than usual and I couldn't wait for it to cool down so that I could have put it somewhere else. I tried to cut the browie in the pan into bite size. Then, he couldn't tell I cut some heart shaped ones. When he's home and saw the brownie, he was shocked and said the brownies looked like an Iraqi battlefield!! Whatever!! Just eat it!! It tasted great. After he went to bed, I packed the box of brownie, with a written note sticked inside the lid of the box, with the usual lunch box. I hope the frosting won't melt. I liked decorating cakes, tarts, etc. It reminded me those days I worked in a bakery. That was quite fun except for the cleaning part! I loved making chocolate covered strawberries. White truffle was my favorite!! It was definitely great when working with Joyce and Nadine. When there were only three of us, we worked and laughed. Joy!! I liked air-brushing cupcakes...rainbow colors, halloween theme.. it was so fun. However, the downside of it? Always got cuts from the plastic packages!! And it's very messy!! The happiest mess was licking the fresh whipped cream with my fingers from the mixing bowl (before I soak it into the sink). The bowl was huge! I ate a lot of whipped cream ^_^ and I went home smelt like buttercream everyday. hehehe...

10 Traits That Make You Filthy-Rich

by Jeffrey StrainFriday, February 1, 2008
provided by theStreet.com

Saving money isn't all about whether or not you know how to score screaming bargains.
It has more to do with your attitude toward money. Just think of those who don't fit the filthy-rich stereotype. People like Warren Buffett. As explained in the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, personal finance has as much to do with people's traits as it does with money. Many millionaires, in fact, have frugal ways. Understanding how personal traits can influence your finances is an essential ingredient for building wealth. Here are 10 key traits:

1. Patience
   Patience is one of the most important traits when it comes to saving money. This means waiting until the first wave of product hype has passed, keeping a car for an extra few years before getting another one and waiting until something you want fits into your budget instead of putting it on credit. Patience is often the difference between creating savings and being in debt. Having the patience to wait until you find a good deal is a cornerstone of good finances.
2. Satisfaction
   When you're satisfied, there is no reason to spend money on nonessentials. The sole purpose of commercials is to make you believe that buying a product or service will make you happier, wealthier, better looking or improve whatever isn't bringing you satisfaction.
   People spend because they want to capture the excitement shown in advertisements. When you are satisfied with what you have and your life (not trying to live like those on TV), your finances will be in a lot better shape.
3. Organization
   Being organized can make you more productive and ensure that all the many issues pertaining to personal finances are addressed. It means not paying late fees, not buying two of everything, knowing deadlines that can affect your finances and getting more done in less time. All these can greatly benefit your finances.
4. Discipline
   You need the discipline to continue to save money for specific, long-term goals every month. Personal finance isn't a way to get rich quick, but is a disciplined execution of your lifetime plans.
5. Reflectiveness
   It's important to be able to look at your financial decisions and reflect on their results. You're going to make financial mistakes. Everyone does. The key is to learn from those mistakes so you don't make them again, or recognize if you keep repeating them.
6. Creativity
   The economy and our earnings don't always match our expectations. Unexpected developments wreak havoc to elaborate financial plans. When this happens, changes are needed to deal with the new circumstances. Creativity is essential to accomplish this. Creativity allows you to make something last longer rather than purchasing it when you don't have the money. It means juggling money to stay out of debt rather than simply paying with a credit card. It means finding a cheaper alternative when money is tight. In these ways, creativity plays a large role in keeping finances in order.
7. Curiosity
   Having curiosity helps you learn, study and improve yourself. The curiosity of wanting to know more, to take the time to study and then take what is learned and put into practice is an important process that is driven by curiosity.
8. Risk-Taking
   To build wealth, one needs to be willing to take risks. This doesn't mean uncalculated risks. It means weighing all the options and taking calculated risks when appropriate. The stock market has risks involved, but over the long term, history shows that it provides good returns on money that is invested wisely. Those who fear risk altogether end up saving money in accounts that likely lose money to inflation in the long run.
9. Goal-Oriented
   The importance of setting and working toward goals is obvious. If you don't know where you are going, it's difficult to get there. It helps your personal finances immensely if you have money goals and are motivated to reach the goals that you have set for yourself. Those who lack goals don't have a road map to take them to the financial destination they want.
10. Hard- and Smart-Working
    Creating wealth and staying out of debt rarely comes about without a lot of hard work. Many people might hope that the lottery will solve all their financial problems. The true path to financial freedom, however, is to work hard to earn money while educating yourself to continue to have more value and increase your salary. You may not possess all of the above traits. But knowing them can help you make changes so that you nourish the ones that you have and obtain the ones you're missing. Ultimately they will help you with your personal finances and create a plan to accumulate the wealth you desire.

Copyrighted, TheStreet.Com. All rights reserved.

Quote of the day

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" – Ronald Reagan

$aving your money: airport parking

As our trip to Hong Kong is approaching, we are so busy with getting everything ready recently. Since I'm not working, I have more time to plan things ahead. NICE. The other day I accidentally discovered a site where it allows you to search for and compare the prices of different off-airport parking lots. Wow. It is really expensive to park at the airport parking garage!! About $30/day???? (http://www.portseattle.org/seatac/ground/parking.shtml#6) Well, if you are loaded or you have a BMW, it doesn't bother you. We just have a Honda. Going to Airport Parking Reservations online, you will be amazed. We saved more $200 by choosing an off-airport parking. (http://www.airportparkingreservations.com/) The key is PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!! Make the reservation early. Leave home a bit early. The result?? You will have EXTRA money for your vacation. Isn't it nice?? ^_^

I don't want to become a magnet to bad people

My phone rang this morning. Since the number didn't look familiar, I didn't pick it up. Someone left me a voice mail. Damn!! That was the evil woman who tried to get my friend to do something unethical before!!!!! Oh my God!!!!!! Luckily, I didn't pick up the phone, or I couldn't stop yelling at her. I wish I could set up an automatic call forwarding to the police. Please leave me alone. I am living a great life. I DO NOT WORK FOR SCUMS.