Homemade Pudding Fruit Pie...:)
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
小笨宣又闖禍了
小時候我媽總說我少根筋，神經大條常闖禍。雖然長大後試著要改進，但這"劣根性"似乎已經深根蒂固，像個不定時炸彈，不知道什麼時候會發作。最近一次發作就在前天晚上。
下班後回到家，想在床上稍作休息，就把眼鏡摘下丟在一旁。誰知起來後兩腳一著地，就把眼鏡踩壞了。"Oops...明天不能上班了"，我當時第一個反應。在美國不像在台灣，眼鏡壞了，了不起到巷口的眼鏡行修一下，十分鐘後就能戴了。我人陷在這個沒車就沒腳的紐澤西，別說沒眼鏡看不到不能開車，就算有人載，我還不知道哪裡可以修眼鏡。打電話問了半天，同事只能建議我再配一副... 挖哩勒... 配一副又要兩三天了，我可不想把假都放在這件蠢事上。
終於，昨天還是請天佑載我到Flushing去修。呵呵，五塊錢搞定！雖然事件順利解決，但這也讓我白白浪費掉一天假... 還有，我想我可能還是得重新配一副... 鏡架好像被我踩到變形，戴久了頭暈暈的... 哀... 自作自受啊！
下班後回到家，想在床上稍作休息，就把眼鏡摘下丟在一旁。誰知起來後兩腳一著地，就把眼鏡踩壞了。"Oops...明天不能上班了"，我當時第一個反應。在美國不像在台灣，眼鏡壞了，了不起到巷口的眼鏡行修一下，十分鐘後就能戴了。我人陷在這個沒車就沒腳的紐澤西，別說沒眼鏡看不到不能開車，就算有人載，我還不知道哪裡可以修眼鏡。打電話問了半天，同事只能建議我再配一副... 挖哩勒... 配一副又要兩三天了，我可不想把假都放在這件蠢事上。
終於，昨天還是請天佑載我到Flushing去修。呵呵，五塊錢搞定！雖然事件順利解決，但這也讓我白白浪費掉一天假... 還有，我想我可能還是得重新配一副... 鏡架好像被我踩到變形，戴久了頭暈暈的... 哀... 自作自受啊！
Monday, May 23, 2005
401(K), IRA and Roth IRA -- I
I guess many people, just like me, already heard of them, knowing that they are some kind of retirement accounts, but not sure exactly what the differences among and the advantages and disadvantages of them. As I am going to have them of my own and even audit them as part of my job, I did some research and here is the brief summary.
1. 401(k)
It's an employee benefit provided by the employer. Some details may differ from company to company, depending on the plan agreement. But most of the plans have to follow the law. For example, once an employee is elibible to participate the plan, he/she can elect to contribute certain amount of money into the plan. The maximum amount that an employee can contribute is $14,000 in 2005 and $15,000 in 2006. The annual dollar limit will increase by $500 annually beginning in 2007 and thereafter. An employee gets to choose the investment portfolio of this money. Then the employer has to take the designated dollar amount from employee's paycheck to put it into the plan. Usually, an employer will match up certain percentage of the amount that the employee contributes. For instance, if I decide to put $10,000 into the plan, then my firm will match up 25% of what I put in, that is, $2,500, a year. If I fully vested in that year, I will have $12,500 in my 401(k) as principal.
The advantage of this plan is not only that you can have your employer to pay a portion of your retirement plan, but also all these money are basically tax-free. Take my example, the $10,000 that I put in the plan will no longer be taxable in that year, nor the $2,500 that the firm matches up. Besides, you can choose how you are going to invest these money; well, of course only among the mutual funds that your plan provides.
Maybe I should not use the term "tax-free" before, because it's not. "Deferred" might be a better word because the money is taxable when distribution. Yep, when you reach 59.5 years old and want to take your money back, it is taxable. You can only hope that by the time you retire, you don't have that much income and are subject to lower tax bracket. Oh, and also, you must take the required minimum distribution once you reach 70.5 or your retirement date, whichever is later. It's not like you can put the money there forever; come on, what's the purpose for that?
Since this plan is to encourage employees to save for their retirement, it doesn't want any amount to be taken out before retirement. So basically you CANNOT take out any money before you reach 59.5 except for "Hardship Withdrawals". It means that you can take the money out before 59.5 from the plan for some "Hardship" reasons like, buying your principal residence, paying tuition and paying medical care expense. However, this should be your last financial resort because when you take the money out, this money is subject to 10% penalty and you have to pay the tax. Furthermore, you cannot put any money back in the plan for 6 months. So once you decide to participate the plan, you must be prepared to leave these money alone for a while.
-- To be continued.
1. 401(k)
It's an employee benefit provided by the employer. Some details may differ from company to company, depending on the plan agreement. But most of the plans have to follow the law. For example, once an employee is elibible to participate the plan, he/she can elect to contribute certain amount of money into the plan. The maximum amount that an employee can contribute is $14,000 in 2005 and $15,000 in 2006. The annual dollar limit will increase by $500 annually beginning in 2007 and thereafter. An employee gets to choose the investment portfolio of this money. Then the employer has to take the designated dollar amount from employee's paycheck to put it into the plan. Usually, an employer will match up certain percentage of the amount that the employee contributes. For instance, if I decide to put $10,000 into the plan, then my firm will match up 25% of what I put in, that is, $2,500, a year. If I fully vested in that year, I will have $12,500 in my 401(k) as principal.
The advantage of this plan is not only that you can have your employer to pay a portion of your retirement plan, but also all these money are basically tax-free. Take my example, the $10,000 that I put in the plan will no longer be taxable in that year, nor the $2,500 that the firm matches up. Besides, you can choose how you are going to invest these money; well, of course only among the mutual funds that your plan provides.
Maybe I should not use the term "tax-free" before, because it's not. "Deferred" might be a better word because the money is taxable when distribution. Yep, when you reach 59.5 years old and want to take your money back, it is taxable. You can only hope that by the time you retire, you don't have that much income and are subject to lower tax bracket. Oh, and also, you must take the required minimum distribution once you reach 70.5 or your retirement date, whichever is later. It's not like you can put the money there forever; come on, what's the purpose for that?
Since this plan is to encourage employees to save for their retirement, it doesn't want any amount to be taken out before retirement. So basically you CANNOT take out any money before you reach 59.5 except for "Hardship Withdrawals". It means that you can take the money out before 59.5 from the plan for some "Hardship" reasons like, buying your principal residence, paying tuition and paying medical care expense. However, this should be your last financial resort because when you take the money out, this money is subject to 10% penalty and you have to pay the tax. Furthermore, you cannot put any money back in the plan for 6 months. So once you decide to participate the plan, you must be prepared to leave these money alone for a while.
-- To be continued.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
TY's Mom wrote an article...
This article was posted on 聯合報. It all started with a Sunday morning before I went visit their place. An interesting article. Share with everyone.
兒子的女友要來 蘇 月 美
兒子的女友因爺爺突然過世，匆匆由紐澤西趕回來，兒子則因另有他事，無法陪同。
在毫無心理準備的狀況下接到她的電話，說要親自送訃文來，也想順便看兒子小時候的相片。小倆口是在紐約念書時相識，進而交往了一年多，雖然感情已經可以論及婚嫁，可這還是第一次來我們家。說不緊張是騙人的，開什麼玩笑，萬一搞砸了，怎麼跟兒子交待?
「什麼?十一點要來?現在都九點了耶，哇….」老公「刷」一聲由電腦桌前跳了起來，一付備戰狀態。
「房間要不要整理一下?」平日從不關心居家清潔的老頭子，突然扮起衛生股長。
「廢話，趕快去拿掃把還有抹布….」我一邊三步做兩步往兒子房間衝一邊發號司令。這房間已經有三個月沒進來過了，別說地板不能踩，就連桌子也摸不得。
就在我們七手八腳拖的拖、擦的擦忙得不可開交時，我突然看到桌墊下一張寫著「學妹電話」的便條紙。
「這個不行，要抽掉。」雖然那個學妹只是兒子死黨的女友，萬一人家誤會了，兒子可就吃不完，兜著走。
「放抽屜好了」
「不行，如果她心血來潮，打開來看不是更糟嗎?」抽屜開了又關。
接著又試了好幾個地方，都不甚理想。
「唉!這又不是什麼見不得人的東西，幹嘛這樣遮遮掩掩，還是壓在桌墊下，保持原狀。」老公一付正氣凜然的樣子。
「喂!你忘了那張照片的事?」雖然已經是五年前的舊帳，但這種事就是一百年也還是不會忘的。
「什麼照片?人家送的那張哦?」每次說到這件事他一定裝糊塗。
「什麼人家送?明明就是你替她拍的。」
「那有呀?!我那時又沒相機，怎麼能替她拍?」還想狡辯。
「哼!就算是人家送，如果不是有心，怎麼會三十年後出現在你媽的遺物當中?」說起這事，我就一肚子火，原本以為我是他的唯一，誰知道五年前婆婆過世，在整理一堆舊相片時，赫然發現那張女生的相片，後面還有拍攝日期。
「妳不要無理取閙了好不好?相片是我媽留又不是我留的，妳怎麼把帳算到我頭上?」
我還怒氣未消，他突然由桌墊下抽出那張便條紙，快速揉成一團，把它扔到垃圾筒裏。
「你幹嘛?也許兒子以後還要那個電話呢!」
「留著它禍害呀?我還不夠借鏡嗎?」
結果我們白忙了一場，兒子的女友來去匆匆，根本沒有進他的房間。更糟的是由於翻舊帳花了太多時間，以致沒有仔細過濾小時候的相片，居然把兒子穿開檔褲的「寫真集」一覽無遺地呈現在他女友面前。
「怎麼辦?兒子要是怪罪下來，要說是你搞砸的。」
「怎麼會是我呢?明明是妳翻老帳…….」
「怎麼不是你?如果你三十年前不幫她怕照…….」
「好….好….是我搞砸，我搞砸……」
兒子的女友要來 蘇 月 美
兒子的女友因爺爺突然過世，匆匆由紐澤西趕回來，兒子則因另有他事，無法陪同。
在毫無心理準備的狀況下接到她的電話，說要親自送訃文來，也想順便看兒子小時候的相片。小倆口是在紐約念書時相識，進而交往了一年多，雖然感情已經可以論及婚嫁，可這還是第一次來我們家。說不緊張是騙人的，開什麼玩笑，萬一搞砸了，怎麼跟兒子交待?
「什麼?十一點要來?現在都九點了耶，哇….」老公「刷」一聲由電腦桌前跳了起來，一付備戰狀態。
「房間要不要整理一下?」平日從不關心居家清潔的老頭子，突然扮起衛生股長。
「廢話，趕快去拿掃把還有抹布….」我一邊三步做兩步往兒子房間衝一邊發號司令。這房間已經有三個月沒進來過了，別說地板不能踩，就連桌子也摸不得。
就在我們七手八腳拖的拖、擦的擦忙得不可開交時，我突然看到桌墊下一張寫著「學妹電話」的便條紙。
「這個不行，要抽掉。」雖然那個學妹只是兒子死黨的女友，萬一人家誤會了，兒子可就吃不完，兜著走。
「放抽屜好了」
「不行，如果她心血來潮，打開來看不是更糟嗎?」抽屜開了又關。
接著又試了好幾個地方，都不甚理想。
「唉!這又不是什麼見不得人的東西，幹嘛這樣遮遮掩掩，還是壓在桌墊下，保持原狀。」老公一付正氣凜然的樣子。
「喂!你忘了那張照片的事?」雖然已經是五年前的舊帳，但這種事就是一百年也還是不會忘的。
「什麼照片?人家送的那張哦?」每次說到這件事他一定裝糊塗。
「什麼人家送?明明就是你替她拍的。」
「那有呀?!我那時又沒相機，怎麼能替她拍?」還想狡辯。
「哼!就算是人家送，如果不是有心，怎麼會三十年後出現在你媽的遺物當中?」說起這事，我就一肚子火，原本以為我是他的唯一，誰知道五年前婆婆過世，在整理一堆舊相片時，赫然發現那張女生的相片，後面還有拍攝日期。
「妳不要無理取閙了好不好?相片是我媽留又不是我留的，妳怎麼把帳算到我頭上?」
我還怒氣未消，他突然由桌墊下抽出那張便條紙，快速揉成一團，把它扔到垃圾筒裏。
「你幹嘛?也許兒子以後還要那個電話呢!」
「留著它禍害呀?我還不夠借鏡嗎?」
結果我們白忙了一場，兒子的女友來去匆匆，根本沒有進他的房間。更糟的是由於翻舊帳花了太多時間，以致沒有仔細過濾小時候的相片，居然把兒子穿開檔褲的「寫真集」一覽無遺地呈現在他女友面前。
「怎麼辦?兒子要是怪罪下來，要說是你搞砸的。」
「怎麼會是我呢?明明是妳翻老帳…….」
「怎麼不是你?如果你三十年前不幫她怕照…….」
「好….好….是我搞砸，我搞砸……」
My favorite TY
I took this one for my boyfriend at Baruch while we're waiting for our friend for lunch. I guess this is the best picture I've ever taken for him. Post it here for good memory.
2004 Summer - Martha's Vineyard
This picture was taken by my boyfriend when we traveled to Martha's Vineyard in 2004 summer. This is one of my favorites because it captures the beauty of sunset and the sea.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
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