Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Google Told Me to Use Their Competitor!

Yup, you read that right. I was pretty amused. I wonder if Google founders know about this?

You may have noticed that I now have Google's ad on this blog. Figured it doesn't hurt to make a little money. I recently deleted my mailshell.com account (long story and worthy of another blog post), and that affected kzillion sites where I had mailshell email as login. Including Google's AdSense.

So I emailed them and requested that they change to my gmail.com account. After all, it's all Google, right? WRONG. This is what they emailed me (I'm not making it up).

"Hi Haeji,

"Thanks for your email requesting a change to your AdSense login.

"Unfortunately, I'm not able to update your AdSense login to a Google
Account or a Gmail address because our system doesn't support this type of
change at the moment. I sincerely apologize for the trouble this causes
you, and I thank you for bearing with us as we work hard to extend this
option to AdSense publishers in the future.

"I can, however, update your AdSense login to a non-Gmail address or any
other address not associated with another Google product. You can simply

reply to this email, providing the desired email address in the body of
your response, and I'll take care of your request as soon as I'm able."

It smacked me of being silly (doesn't it to you??). They pretty much told me to use any of Google's competitor's email to access part of Google product. Talk about left hand not talking to right hand. Anyway, I don't get enough money from ads anyway, so I'm gonna wait to see if they fix this in a month or so. If not, I intend to write to Google's CEO and founders, cc'ing Yahoo's CEO and founders, that they are telling me to go to their competitor. (I figure Yahoo! would get a kick out of it.)



La Jolla Cove and Goldfish Point Cafe

Finally, I got a chance to see La Jolla. I walked around to see La Jolla Cove. La Jolla coastlines have jagged rocks and cliffs, which adds beauty. See for yourself below.




And, there were seals just lounging around! I thought that was pretty cool.


It was a bit chilly (it is after all December) so I decided to park myself at a cafe. I found Goldfish Point Cafe (1255 Coast Blvd., La Jolla 92037). I didn't eat their pastries but their Jasmine tea was acceptable. What made this cafe top notch in my book? No matter where you sat in this little cafe, you had a clear view of the Pacific Ocean! I took a shot from where I was sitting so you can see.

I got some holiday cards done but really, I just wanted to sit and stare (which I noticed some people actually did. ;) )

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Sunshine Tax in San Diego

So, now that I've moved to San Diego and settled in somewhat, I find out about this mysterious "sunshine tax." Never heard of it? Neither have I until I moved here. Apparently, that's the higher price you pay (lower wages, higher living cost) for living in a place with great weather. I got curious about my living expenses at various places so I started to compare. I did, after all, move around quite a bit so I have first-hand experience in what things cost. So I looked at Oakland (2002-2004), Montgomery, Alabama (2004-2005), and San Diego (now).

I do have to say, I have a higher overhead, fixed cost than when I lived in Oakland. Course, nothing beats $600 rent in Alabama (which got you an ENORMOUS walk-in closet, two community pools, tennis court, free breakfast, etc. ) but I did hope to find a slightly lower rent in San Diego than SF bay area. Not so. In Oakland, I was paying $1350 by the time I left in mid 2004. That was in one of the most expensive part of Oakland (Rockridge), with a huge apartment that could accommodate my upright piano. I was hoping to find maybe $1300 max in downtown San Diego. Well, I'm paying almost $100 more. At $1430, I do get certain benefits -- 10 minute my-apt-door-to-office-chair walk to my work (a HUGE benefit), fitness center, pool, nice area.

My utility bills from Oakland was the lowest compared to Alabama and San Diego (average $20 per month). I paid quite a bit more while I was in Alabama (average $50 per month). So far in San Diego, I've had about $35 per month gas/electricity bill. I didn't pay for water in Oakland but did in Alabama ($25 per month average) and am doing so in San Diego ($30 per month so far).

As for phone/cable/internet deals, once again, nothing beats what I had in Oakland. Altogether, I averaged about $60-70 per month but I had a lot less (no long distance, the most basic analog cable). In Alabama, about $85 per month and that was still without long distance for my phone or digital cable. Here in San Diego, $103 per month but I'm getting a lot more amenities, long distance, high internet speed, and digital cable with DVR (although I had to call 3 times to get Cox to get rid of ridiculous charges).

The bottom line? Don't think the South is cheap. Alabama isn't cheap when it came to your everyday expenses. The biggest factor, rent, was the cheapest and gas was definitely cheaper than California but everything else that went with it was higher than anywhere I've lived in California. AND, Montgomery, Alabama had the highest sales tax rate (10%) on everything, including grocery and water! Talk about taxing the poor (and it did make me feel poor ;).

Oakland tax rate, from what I understand, has gone up so now it's one of the highest in California -- 8.75% -- but it used to be 8.25%. Los Angeles has 8.25%. San Diego does have the lowest sales tax rate so far at 7.75%. Does that make a difference? Sure, why not? Especially if I'm paying higher rent and utilities, I might as well be happy that I can buy contact lens solutions, clothes and shoes for less.

In case you were wondering how I could possibly make all this analysis, I keep fastidious notes about my expenses, with categories and totals I made up (I hate Quicken). I made my own special excel spreadsheet that I think kicks Quicken's butt (but that's my biased opinion) and have been keeping track of my expenses, cash flow, and monthly savings since 2002. I used to keep track before 2002 as well, but they were handwritten notes... and then in 2002, I realized the beauty of Excel. :P Thus, I am probably one of very few in America who can analyze the cost of living at various places. My excel spreadsheet, I think, scares some people when they see it but it is interesting to see just exactly what the difference in cost of living is instead of getting some vague perception of what it might be to live in some place.

Anyway, so I concluded that there might be a bit of "sunshine tax" in San Diego but all things considered, I'm probably at the same level as I was in SF bay area (no commute = no gas/transportation cost = monthly savings!).