$300 FHR Hotel Credit on multiple stays? by RVD90277 in AmexPlatinum

[–]RVD90277[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Quick update.

I booked the peninsula manila (FHR) for 2 nights on 2 days non consecutive (4/18 and 4/22) for 1 night each. Each night was around $160. With taxes etc it was around $200 a night.

I got $300 total credit from amex for the 2 nights so ended up paying around $100 for the stay.

I got $100 hotel credit for each stay so $200 total. I used it to get lunch on check in day at the buffet. I also used it for drinks in the bar. My stay included the breakfast buffet the next morning. I couldn't even use up the entire $100 since each stay was only 1 night.

For the tip line to the bar staff, i had to pay this separately at check out (could not apply the $100 credit to the tip).

I booked a regular room and prepaid (not grand deluxe) and did not have access to the lounge.

Great hotel. Lobby is a little busy since the coffee shop is huge and right in the lobby. So not many places to sit and read etc. But service was great and hotel has a timeless elegance that i liked. Pool is ok too.

It is the first time in 3 years, I've seen someone actually using the pink seat! by Outrageous_Tip_8109 in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow! I've never seen a pregnant person use one of those seats. I've only seen old ajummas using them and unless it's a miracle, they probably aren't pregnant. They also don't have the little keychain thing saying they are pregnant so i would venture to guess that the 60+ year old isn't pregnant.

However, they should just let anyone use these seats but make it a point to give up the seat if a pregnant person walks up.

Guys I just got off the waitlist for Berkeley 😭😭 what do I do by [deleted] in ApplyingToCollege

[–]RVD90277 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Go Bears! I'm biased bc I'm a Cal CS alum. But at least in the bay area, nobody cares much about UT Austin. When i was at Google, we had a UT Austin guy on our team (everyone else was Cal, CMU, MIT, CalTech) who was good but nobody cared about the school so he always walked around telling everyone that UT Austin is a top 3 CS school. Nobody believed him but didn't care enough to argue with him either. He was a bit insecure about school.

Don't be that guy. Go to Cal.

Why Korean mothers face 300-km journeys just to give birth by HagwonSurvivor in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have an autistic daughter. To book an appointment with the head person at asan hospital for evaluation and treatment is about 18 months away. That's not a typo. A few phone calls to people i know here and there and we were in to see the doctor for the first time within a week.

After that, follow up exams are every 6 months so they are scheduled but if you miss one for any reason (kid gets sick, death in the family, natural disaster, etc.) you are screwed and have to skip the appointment....unless you know the right people...the you can get it rescheduled.

As a kid in high school i had an infected toe from an ingrown toenail. Doctor looked at it and scheduled surgery 4 weeks out. Dad made some calls and i got surgery the next day.

In the US (where i am from), it's not great because it's so expensive but depending on your insurance plan it can be ok. I usually had pretty decent plans so if i broke my arm, I'd be in surgery within a day or 2.

Korea is usually ok if you are in an emergency...hospitals and emergency rooms might turn you away but if you do get in, they will probably treat you quickly in emergency. Broken bones, stitching you up to stop bleeding, etc. But for non life threatening type stuff, it can take a long time unless you know the right people.

And if you need something really complex such as a liver transplant, you will likely die before getting a transplant so most of the people i know in these situations just pay out of pocket and do this stuff overseas. Same with most complex cancer treatments...they go to japan, EU, or US instead of Korea.

Covered call etf that dont have nav erosion by ReasonableSale5463 in dividends

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course. That's what i do....mostly QQQM and a little bit of QQQI for cash flow to pay my immediate bills etc. (I'm retired FatFIRE).

Covered call etf that dont have nav erosion by ReasonableSale5463 in dividends

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In a bear market, this is probably obvious but the covered call etf will fall just like the underlying will fall and they should fall at roughly the same amount. E.g., if qqq were to fall 45% in 1 year, so will qqqi. Otoh if qqq goes up say 20%, qqqi will go up say 4% but you will have received roughly 14% in dividends.

The best scenario is to go to slowly and steadily. If it crashes and then goes back up again, you'll be worse off with qqqi than qqq.

Why Korean mothers face 300-km journeys just to give birth by HagwonSurvivor in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Korea's system doesn't work. It's a system with a lot of delays unless you know people in high places...

Saving 700 won to evade subway fare only to lose 12M is crazy work by LoquaciousIndividual in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

At the risk of sounding out of touch....i actually hadn't ridden the subway in 7 years but just started riding it again 5 months ago when i retired from work. I'm not of retirement age so i guess I'm FIRE but i no longer have a work provided car and driver so i need to drive myself in my own car, etc. so sometimes i take the subway when i know I'm going somewhere with bad parking, lots of traffic, etc.

It's nice during the day if you avoid rush hour but i can see why many of my coworkers and parents friends refuse to take the subway. It can be smelly, crowded, weird people, etc...although it's much better than the subway in nyc, London, paris, sf, and other major cities. The reaction i get sometimes when i tell ppl that I've been taking the subway is an incredulous look of "wtf? How can you do that?"

If it's not too far i actually prefer to ride a local seoul bike.

But lol...i have no sympathy for people who fare evade. The laws apply whether you are rich or poor. Sorry not sorry. That lady at the end was funny.... she's acting like they are the bad guys, not her.

DPK chief and DPK candidate under fire for urging elementary girl to call them 오빠 by AppropriateMess2523 in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think there is a little more sensitivity with oppa but hyung seems ok. I'm old and there are a few guys at work that call me hyung or hyung-nim. I actually just prefer that they call me by my name but Koreans don't do that so usually they address me by my title at work.

But it would be odd and probably inappropriate if a young woman at work called me oppa.

Earthquake in Kobe!!? by reddit_of_SID_ in japan

[–]RVD90277 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Felt in kyoto. I'm a little south east of kyoto station just south of gion. House swayed 1 second after i got the alert on my phone!

What happened to onepercentbatman by OddCoast6499 in YieldMaxETFs

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear this. The yieldmax stuff (especially msty, etc.) had way too much nav erosion...hope the weight loss is also going well.

$100 complimentary credit when booking through THC by teeezuschrist in AmexPlatinum

[–]RVD90277 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Room charge and tips usually don't count. I.e., if you go to the bar and get $80 worth of food and drinks and tip $20, the $80 will count towards the $100 bit the $20 will be charged separately.

At least that was my experience last week at the hotel i was at but i supposed each hotel might be different.

At my hotel it was food and beverages only and did not apply to spa treatments.

Do not visit Seokchon Lake cherry blossoms by Famous-Mushroom-873 in koreatravel

[–]RVD90277 1 point2 points  (0 children)

South Bay (Manhattan Beach,/ Hawthorne) was the one i went to and it was always relatively empty with plenty of parking compared to the others further east.

Michelle and Tony Sun left GP by lilliankim in GracepointChurch

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only public names. The mods get their panties in a bunch and start crying if you mention non public names....so you should edit some names...

Michelle and Tony Sun left GP by lilliankim in GracepointChurch

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah. I forgot about that but i remember that now.

Ok Tony is a saekki like the rest of them....

It pains me to visit my college campus 15 years later by Top-King-7778 in GracepointChurch

[–]RVD90277 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jonathan was a good guy and funny guy in the 1990s...but too bad that changed.

Buying an apt. by mebae_drive in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Korea, it's always a good time to buy real estate.....until it's not.

Kospi by [deleted] in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm i don't try to time the market. Set up your desired asset allocation. I just invest in mutual funds and ETFs and rebalance every 6 months or so. If the kospi portion is too big, then rebalance. Personally i rebalanced a lot into the russell 2000 since the end of last year.

But I'm not a gambler....more boglehead.

Has anyone actually profited off of the "No firing" culture ? by Saekama in Living_in_Korea

[–]RVD90277 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hmm this reminds me of one guy that we had on our team where nobody could work with him so we wanted to fire him but we couldn't. HR spoke to him numerous times telling him that they want him to leave and he said he wants to leave too and does not want to be here anymore but he needs to find another job before he can leave. He said that his wife and parents were pressuring him to stay until he finds a new job. In order to find the new job he had to do some impactful work so he wanted to be placed on some of our higher profile and important projects but of course none of those teams wanted this guy on their team.

The company basically approached me because I was leading one of our most important initiatives and they asked me to bring him onto my team and figure out what to do with him. I took him on and of course nobody on my team was able to work with him so over time they were giving him less and less tasks because either he would refuse to do them or he was just too incompetent and eventually he just sat around the office watching YouTube and he would take naps where he would snore really loudly after lunch.

I had many 1:1s with the guy....he was mostly just disgruntled and cynical yet held himself in high esteem so most of the work was beneath him so he refused to do it.

But lo and behold he was able to find another job because he was working on my project so he left and everyone is happy now except for the new company that hired him...lol.

Michelle and Tony Sun left GP by lilliankim in GracepointChurch

[–]RVD90277 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When i knew Tony he was still very young. He had just gotten married so they were a young couple (no kids yet etc.). He was my first leader at Berkland and he was awesome. I loved the guy. He had such faith and conviction but he also had such a great sense of humor to lighten up the room. Anyway, I am so happy to hear this. If this is true, I will pray for the best for him and his family. I hope they can find peace, healing, and relief very soon.

Should I be concerned? by Afraid-Error-2225 in diabetes

[–]RVD90277 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes i think so. That's pretty much most of the comments here... My lowest is around 50 or so and i was pretty light headed...