Opinions on the 17″ Macbook Pro Laptop?

Has anyone purchased this laptop?

I'm considering purchasing it. My company will pay for half of it…it's kinda like a mid-year bonus. This computer would be my personal laptop but also used for work.

Does this computer still have the buzzing/humming problems? Any other weird things going on?

Does this computer work well with Graphics applications? I know that the Macbook Pro 15" performed terribly with Photoshop…Has Apple fixed this issue with the 17"

What do you think about adding on all the extras now rather than later? These include and upgrade in memory and an extended warranty plan.

Any insights are much appreciated…

Parents’ move to retirement.

My parents are on their way to retiring. My father, at 57 is planning to retire in 2 years.

What they're doing now to prepare for that transition is selling their house. They plan to move into a townhome, and use the excess cash for living expenses.

I'm helping them with the move by staging the house. Rather than renting furniture at a cost of $6000/mo (and my mom has to move out while the house is on market), we decided to do it ourself.

So far, we've decided on a sofa and an entertainment console. They're both from Crate & barrel. We've also decided on the wall colors.

Why are we doing this? Because, my parents didn't want to invest in their house as we lived there. They also had this notion that if we decorated or painted our walls different colors, our house wouldn't be worth as much because they figured it would make the house look less spacious.

God, are they so wrong, and they're now realizing it.

After seeing the homes sold on our street, all of them have a unique character…they're absolutely beautiful and appraised higher than our home because of that. There was one home that we checked out over the weekend. The floor plan was nearly identical to ours…their house was staged and represented by this realtor who's been dominating our street.

The 1500square feet home is on the market for 940K. It's sure to sell for over 1mil.

I picked up the info sheets that the realtor had laid out on his desk. Info sheets included property spec sheet, property description & photos, floorplan, and a bio on the realtor.

The realtor is good because of his diverse experience & expertise. He was vice president of marketing for Ann Taylor stores, Guess Jeans, & St. John Home. He has an MBA from Columbia and is part of Prudential's Chairman's circle.

My mom has regrets not signing with him to sell her house. I can't help but think, "I told ya so…" And, it's true, I told her to go through Prudential even if they take a higher cut. We would have our house sold right away w/ a mil in my parents' pockets.

House hasn't sold yet, so we don't know…maybe, my parents' home will be up there with the others on our street.

Whoa.

Hey, I just checked my blog stats and noticed that Neo’s nest egg linked me. Thanks, I didn’t expect that.

In fact, I only keep this journal to log my PF progress and possibly to get advice from others.

=)

Hair tips.

This is a not a pf-related post, but something I’d like to share.

My hair:

• damaged
• dull
• wavy
• nappy
• split ends
• baby hair standing upwards

I get a lot of crap from my mom about my hair and urges me to take better care of myself. As if improving hair can be done with a pill or a treatment…? As if I want my hair to remain in bad condition.

Why is my hair so bad?

• years of swimming
• years of dyeing my hair
• 2-3 times of perming (straight & wavy)
• not eating healthy (possibly?)
• harsh weather conditions

So, I’ve tried a lot of things to get my hair looking decent. The best was probably a ‘magic’ straight perm I had done over a year ago. It made my hair super straight & shiny. Only thing is, it’s a perm w/ chemicals and my hair fell out more and it turned more nappy after a few months.

I returned to the states and I tried out John Frieda products. My friend had worked for John Frieda and recommended them to me. I think I forced myself to think they worked, but the products were drying out my hair more.

I decided I would use simple products…actually, accidentally came upon this at my mom’s place:

• Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo
• Infusium conditioner

Johnson & Johnson is light enough but washes my hair sufficiently. I don’t get dandruff when I use it. Infusium is a nice conditioner, too.

One last thing:

• The other thing I do now is put a towel over my hair for about 30 minutes to soak up water. This weighs down my hair and makes it softer and more manageaable. Then I air dry. No combing, no extra treatment, no blowdryer.

Once upon a time, I used to comb my hair down when it was wet and tie it into a pony tail. This used to work but, now my baby hairs stick out and it’s not like how it used to be.

So anyone w/ nappy hair problems, this might work!

Hello world!

Hi, I think I’m finally settled into WordPress. I just transferred my older entries here…

I’m so tired. It’s 5:29 a.m. I started doing this because my roommate and her friends were obnoxiously loud when they got home. I had only one hour of sleep

Year end.

Accident begone!I contacted N., the claimant, and she agreed to settle the car accident out of my insurance. Begrudgingly, I agreed to pay her the full $670.32 (yes, she even wanted the 32 cents) and got her off my ass. Thanks to my bf, I used a release form to end this deal. I now keep three copies of the document in my glove compartment.Savings progress

The accident set me back for my year-end savings. I was hoping to easily make the 10K mark before 2006. There are a few silver linings though:

• My apartment is not ready yet. With my rent prorated, I will only have to pay about $200 next month.
• My boss decided to give us cash holiday gifts which will be added onto our next paycheck. I think it will be around $100-200.
• Since mom suddenly left for Seattle, I am housesitting. Meaning my bf and I can lounge freely. We cook more. We save more.
• The HSBC online savings opening bonus kicked in. I am $25 richer.
• Oh! I got to see the final performance of The Drowsy Chaperone at the Ahmanson. My boss and his wife hooked us up with tix. They’re the best!

Nonetheless, if I keep to my tight budget, I will just barely hit 10K before January.

Year-end task list

• Set 2006 financial, career and personal goals
• Prepare my cameras to get fixed (three broken cameras collecting dust in my closet)
• Throw away more of my crap in my mom’s house to reduce bickering, lectures, etc.
• Tidy up my apartment as soon as all the pipes, walls get fixed
• Organize my 2005 receipts
• Somehow link my ING acct to HSBC
• Join a freaking gym!!!

More to add later…

Other things

I returned my ex’s DVD of his live performance. He’s been asking for it for a few months..and I hadn’t had the chance to return it to him. Hmm..and partly, I didn’t feel the desire to return it to him because he’s just a dick about it. For instance, he e-mails me with “WHERE’S MY DVD” That’s it. No question mark..all caps..no hello.. I think it was just in the subject, too.

I finally found it amidst the ruins of my apt and sent it to him on Monday. I’m FREEEEEEEEE.

Finally…

It’s a bit disheartening having no family during the holidays. As mentioned above, mom suddenly left for Seattle to tend to my brother’s family. I only have one brother. My dad works overseas..and the rest of my family is spread throughout the US, Canada and Asia. My boss even offered his airline miles to take me to Seattle. I thanked him and .. I didn’t take them. It was quite generous of him though.

Bf invited me to have X-mas dinner with his mom’s side of the family. But, I feel weird in these situations..Holidays make me feel weird. Like uber-displaced.

Ahh well, let’s see what happens…

Unexpected savings.

Reimbursement

My bathroom and bedroom are undergoing repairs. A pipe burst at the beginning of the month and flooded our neighbors downstairs. Looks like I will be reimbursed for each day I’m out of the apartment. Thanks to my lovely roommate! She did all the negotiating with our landlady.

I feel like a lucky girl~

With my reimbursement and my frugal habits these days, I can save another $1100 off of my current paycheck and another $600 off the next one. Woo hoo! My boss also paid for my gas when I dropped him off somewhere. Sweet! And, we ate out on three occassions at the company’s expense. This is too good!

X-mas gifts nearly complete

I bought and sent out most of my X-mas gifts to friends, family & coworkers. I used the $5 Amazon.com gift certificate that Boston Gal posted for answering a survey. Definitely saved on some shipping.

Each gift was pretty personalized:

• Nieces – two matching My Little Ponies on Scooters, The English Roses Umbrella (they live in Seattle) and Wallace & Gromits three shorts DVD
• BF- Coldplay piano sheets, Best of Michael Nyman CD set and The Gift of the Magi by O Henry
• Boss – This American Life CD ($14)
• Coworker 1 – The Sea and Cake CD ($13)
• Coworker 2 – Wet Hot American Summer DVD ($10)
• + Each get edible goodies from Trader Joes ($4X3)
• Friend – Supersized black-rimmed sunglasses from Nordstroms ($10)

Still on my gifts list:

• Mom
• Roommate

Free credit report

I obtained my free credit report today. It looks like I am in excellent standing. I don’t know what my fico score is yet, but I’ll check it next week. I thought I would have some bad marks on my report because of credit misbehaving during college. I had a debt problem and sometimes made late payments. My parents took all my credit cards saying they would close the accounts. But, apparently a lot of them still exist with zero debt. Yay!

Retirement option

As I was talking with one of my coworkers about retirement options, he said that he has been talking with our boss about participating in a company-sponsored 401K plan. Awesome! I guess the 401K plan helps out my boss with his taxes, too. This is definitely worth discussing at the beginning of the new year.

Insurance on my ass!

Like a fool, I ignored the woman I bumped into hoping that she would give up dollar bumper claim. Rather, she called her insurance agent, and now I’m screwed. My mom’s premium will be higher..and she’s bitching about it to me. I know! It’s all my fault..and my irresponsibility. Why am I kicking back into the “save me because I’m the youngest child” syndrome? I need to face reality and deal with things right then and there. That’s what Bob Parsons would do.

Real Estate

So, I talked with my brother about my finance progress and my plan to purchase a 1-bedroom condo with friend in a year and a half. He suggests that I should put my cast in CDs with high rates until the market goes down.

After thinking about it, that’s becoming the more logical thing to do in my situation. LA is ridiculous. Maybe if I were making 10K more…

With this in mind, property investments will be either…

Out of state. (not likely though)

in 2-3 years

What do I do with the cash then?
Goals for 2006 and beyond…

Wells Fargo Savings (immediate emergency fund) – $500-1000
ING Direct (Long-term emergency; ex. layoff) – $5000
HSBC (1. Income tax owed; 2. Investments) – $3000 + $7500-18000
GMAC (Property Downpayment) – $35,000+
Future 401K – 10% of my income

Here’s my current net worth

Cash – $9965
Credit Card – $125
Everything between – $0

Get off my case!

Pet Peeve

I was sharing my finance concerns with bf this morning on the way to work. I told him how I felt it was really difficult to buy and maintain mortgage payments in Los Angeles, and that I didn’t know how I could do it unless I save more & earn more.Either

• Move in with my parents
• Increase my salary by 20-30K

At first he says not to stress out so much and people find away.
And, I tell him that I want to be able to buy condo, rent it out, pay for the leftover monthly mortgage, and save money. This is impossible with my current situation since I’ve squeezed out unnecessary expenditures out of my monthly budget.

Ok, so this is what gets me annoyed:
“To tell you the truth, I think you can reduce your costs more.”
As if he knows my finances better than me…

Rather than justifying my result and getting into a lame argument, I thought I’d vent out here. And, here’s my proof.

These are my expenses

• Rent – 675
• Utilities – 40
• T-mobile – 60
• Netflix – 17
• Gas – 180
• Lunch – 80
• Groceries/Dining Out – 220
• American Express – 50

= 1322

I save the rest. Varies between 15-1800/mo

So, this is how I can adjust it:

• Rent – 675
• Utilities – 40
• T-mobile – 50 (shorter plan and use work cell phone to make calls)
• Netflix – 0 (cancel it)
• Gas – 180
• Lunch – 60 (bring lunch from home more)
• Groceries/Dining Out – 180 (Eat at cheaper restaurants still once a week)
• American Express – 50 (This is bound to remain the same)

= 1235

What do you think? I think this is as lean as a girl who lives in LA and has an everyday 2-2 1/2 hour commute at a small business that offers teeny bonuses, limited medical coverage, and no retirement options.

My curiosity and resentment overtook me, and I tried calculating how my roommate spends her income:

A couple months ago, she said that she would have $25,000 to spend on shared down for a 1-bedroom condo with me by the end of next year. She has a monthly salary of 4300 after tax.

• Rent – 675
• Utilities – 40
• Verizon – 65
• Car Insurance – 200
• Gas – 180
• Student Loans – 200
• Credit cards – 500
• Savings – 1800
• Food/Entertainment/Other – 640 (!!)

I believe that she really does spend about $500/mo on food alone. And the rest, shopping, videos, miscellaneous things.

Now, bf’s expenses totals to $1200/mo and he lives at home. He grossses 4000/mo.
He saves 2500-2800/mo.

What do you think.. really?
Maybe I should become an exec asst or a stripper. My friends seems to gross $5-10K/mo in their occupations.

Ahh, the headaches begin again!

Car accident update.

The person I bumped into called me back that evening. She got her car checked with her mechanic and received an estimate for $675 to fix a bent inner bumper.Is this for real? It’s a 90s Previa! It could have easily been the years of parallel parking…

She sent over a fax of the estimate to my office for me to check on Monday. I’ll have to discuss my options with my mom since I’m using her insurance.

Ugh..

X-mas shopping and B-day stuffs

I bought one X-mas gift for a friend that cost $10.

I treated my bf out to dinner w/ my mom–about $75. And, got him intro golf lessons at our local course–$100. We also went to the Wine Store and bought two bottles and a spread that totalled $35.

My roommate finally deposited the check I made out to her last month for our utilities–$100. So, I was surprised to see that my balance was down that much since I haven’t been balancing my accts. I also had to pay rent, so I stopped by my apartment. I haven’t been there in about a week because I’ve been staying with my mom. My roommate told me that I couldn’t use the bathroom, that the sink was leaking. I finally checked it out, and my toilet is gone! The wall is cracked open into my bedroom closet. I go into my bedroom, all my crap is on my bed covered in sheet plastic.

What is going on???

This month is hard. I won’t be able to save any extra money this couple of weeks. I usually save about $100 every paycheck via automatic deposits into ING and then save about $200 the first couple weeks and $1100 the second couple weeks.

Just more reason to return those $160 Anthropologie jeans. Gotta do that soon!

How to get my dream home.

I had written this long entry on my action plan for obtaining my dream home. Since then, I’ve reconsidered and on this post, I will just list the types of properties I would like.My property wishlist:

• 3-4 bedroom house in a safe & central neighborhood w/ excellent public schools & that is guaranteed to appreciate a lot each year. I also want to live near the beach. By the time I get married, this home will cost me at least $1 million. Possible neighborhoods include Marina Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica & Brentwood.

So, I’m a traitor. I grew up on the east side.. and now fallen over to the yuppie beach community. What can I say? The weather’s better on the westside, choice merchandise and less lines in stores, sometimes less traffic, close to the beach, and better school districts~

• 2 bedroom westside income property (currently priced at $575K)
• studio income property in Asia (currently priced at $175K)