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Top hotel groups

2026-06-06T16:34:04.750-07:00

Marriott International: The undisputed largest hotel chain in the world, featuring over 1.6 million rooms across legendary brands like Ritz-Carlton, Sheraton, and Westin.

Hilton Worldwide: The second largest by market valuation, spanning over 1.2 million rooms across brands like Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and Hampton.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG): A massive global footprint of nearly 1 million rooms, anchored by Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and InterContinental.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation: Considerably smaller in total hotel count (around 1,300+ properties) but fiercely loved by travelers for its high-end luxury portfolio like Park Hyatt and Grand Hyatt.

Accor: Based in France, Accor is Europe's largest hotel group. It commands over 850,000 rooms and has the most diverse lifestyle/luxury lineup, including Fairmont, Sofitel, Novotel, and Ibis.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts: By absolute number of hotel locations, Wyndham is an absolute monster with over 9,200 properties, focusing heavily on budget and midscale travel like Days Inn, Super 8, and Ramada.

Jin Jiang International: This Chinese state-owned giant is technically the second-largest hotel group in the world by room count. It owns Radisson Hotel Group (outside the Americas) and Louvre Hotels.

H World Group (Huazhu): Another massive Chinese powerhouse that ranks ahead of IHG and Hyatt in terms of total global room capacity.

3 websites for housing search

2024-11-02T17:05:00.005-07:00

www.sccassessor.org

www.greatschools.org

www.dre.ca.gov

Plumbing rooter service

2024-11-02T17:04:00.003-07:00

My Kitchen drain was clogged, so I need to find a plumber to unclog it. Called a couple of companies from google search and Yelp search, in the hope of finding a good and reasonable quote but failed.

https://plumbing.rootersolutionssj.com/

408-215-7696

https://www.drainrooterservice.com/

(669) 232-7086

https://www.rescuerooter-bay-area.com/

(510) 983-4008

Finally, Mr. Cris from Señor Rooter Plumbing quoted from pictures I sent to him without making an onsite appointment. https://www.yelp.com/biz/se%C3%B1or-rooter-plumbing-san-martin I feel family owned business is more friendly, affordable and professional.

Top 100 Places to Eat in the Bay Area according to Yelp Elites (2024)

2024-11-02T15:08:00.004-07:00

https://www.yelp.com/collection/VYiUdPIDvoQ9FOLPfGgJMw/Top-100-Places-to-Eat-in-the-Bay-Area-according-to-Yelp-Elites

Top 10:

1. Zareen's in Palo Alto
2. Duc Huong in San Jose
3. The Laundromat in San Francisco
4. Butchers Korean BBQ in Sunnyvale (https://www.10butchers.net/)
5. Tony's Pizza Napoletana in San Franisco
6. House of Prime Rib in San Francisco
7. Komeya No Bento in San Franisco
8. Breakfast Little in San Francisco
9. Tiny Sushi - Oh Baby in Daly City
10. San Tung in San Francisco

Zareen餐厅有印度菜和巴基斯坦菜。餐厅老板Zareen Khan说，这里的食物“健康、慢炖、清淡，充满了爱与真诚。”

Duc Huong是一家三明治店，他们说他们提供“正宗的越南菜、最美味的三明治以及从西贡到河内的街头小吃，采用新鲜的食材和古老的食谱。”

Tony's Pizza Napoletana最近在意大利披萨指南“50佳披萨”的全球50强中排名第六。

Two trickly questions from I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card

2024-10-25T23:04:00.004-07:00

My green card (Permanent resident card) is expiring, so I need to file form I-90 to review/replace my green card online.

The first step is to register an online account iwth USCIS at uscis.gov

The second step is to fill out the form I-90

However, there are two questions a bit tricky to answer which are:

Where did you apply for your immigrant visa or adjustment of status?
Where was your immigrant visa or adjustment of status granted?

First off, if you applied green card outside of USA, it is immigrant visa. If you applied while you were in the USA, it is adjustment of status.

Provide the location of the U.S. Embassy, U.S. Consulate, or USCIS office that issued your immigrant visa or permanent resident status.

This info was ten years ago, very hard to recall or identify, however, the green card has receipt number or card # starts with USCIS office code. Using the office code, ask google to find out the office. For my case, the 3 characters are LIN, so it maps to Nebraska Service Center. Questions answered.

The three-digit codes for USCIS office locations are:

MSC: National Benefits Center
NBC: National Benefits Center
EAC: Vermont Service Center (formerly known as Eastern Adjudication Center)
VSC: Vermont Service Center
WAC: California Service Center (formerly known as Western Adjudication Center)
CSC: California Service Center
LIN: Nebraska Service Center

NSC: Nebraska Service Center

SRC: Texas Service Center (formerly known as Southern Regional Center)

TSC: Texas Service Center

IOE: ELIS (e-Filing)

YSC: Potomac Service Center

The first three characters of a USCIS application's 13-character receipt number indicate which USCIS service center is processing the case. The receipt number can be found on the application.

The first three letters of the card number on a green card also indicate the USCIS office that granted the adjustment of status case. The card number may be located on the front or back of the card, depending on the year it was issued.

To visit a USCIS field office, an appointment is required, and walk-ins are not permitted. The field office address can be found on the appointment or interview notice.

Hyatt and World of Hyatt

2024-08-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacation properties. Hyatt has more than 1350 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 69 countries, across six continents.

Hyatt operates a loyalty program called World of Hyatt, which replaced Gold Passport on March 1, 2017.[56] This program includes membership tiers of base members, Discoverists, Explorists, and Globalists. The program offers Hyatt members benefits such as room upgrades and complimentary breakfast, based on how many nights they stayed in Hyatt-affiliated hotels or how much they spend in Hyatt properties.[57]

Hyatt has 25+ distinctive brands and over 1,300 locations to explore.

Hyatt manages many different brands of properties:

Alila
Alua Hotels & Resorts
Andaz
Atona
Breathless Resorts
Caption by Hyatt
Destination by Hyatt
Dreams Resorts & Spas
Grand Hyatt
Hyatt
Hyatt Centric
Hyatt House
Hyatt Place
Hyatt Regency
Hyatt Residence Club
Hyatt Studios
Hyatt Vivid
Hyatt Zilara
Hyatt Ziva
Impression by Secrets
JdV by Hyatt
Miraval
Park Hyatt
Secrets Resorts & Spas
Sunscape Resorts & Spas
Thompson Hotels
The Unbound Collection
UrCove by Hyatt
Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resorts

Hilton and Hilton Honors

2024-08-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

As one of the world's largest hospitality companies, Hilton is committed to driving responsible travel and tourism globally. At Hilton, there's a hotel brand for everyone, from the no-frills Hampton Inn traveler to the luxury seeker who wants to be pampered at a Conrad or Waldorf Astoria. Hilton’s portfolio includes 23 brands, from the luxury Waldorf Astoria and Conrad Hotels and Resorts to mid-scale Tru by Hilton.

Hilton Honors points have a value of 0.5 cent each. Hilton Honors points are worth less than the average hotel point. As a member of the Hilton Honors program, you'll be able to earn and redeem your points on everything from affordable hotels with all the basics to some of the most luxurious addresses around the world.

Canopy by Hilton (Lifestyle)

Conrad Hotels & Resorts (Luxury, named after founder)
Curio Collection by Hilton (Upper upscale)
DoubleTree by Hilton (Upscale)
Embassy Suites by Hilton (Upper upscale)
Hampton by Hilton (Upper midscale)
Hilton Club (Timeshare)
Hilton Garden Inn (Upscale)
Hilton Grand Vacations Club (Timeshare)
Hilton Vacation Club (Timeshare)
Hilton Hotels & Resorts (Upper upscale)
Home2 Suites by Hilton (Upper midscale)
Homewood Suites by Hilton (Upscale)
LivSmart Studios (Extended Stay)
LXR Hotels & Resorts (Luxury)
Motto by Hilton (Upper midscale)
Signia by Hilton (Upscale)
Small Luxury Hotels of the World (Upscale independent hotels)
Spark by Hilton (Premium economy)

Tapestry Collection by Hilton (Upscale independent hotels)
Tempo by Hilton (Upscale)
Tru by Hilton (Midscale)
Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts (Luxury)

IHG and Marriott

2024-07-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

Always a bit confused by so many hotel brands, so I spent some time learning these two hotel groups: IHG and Marriott.

IHG Hotels & Resorts, or InterContinental Hotels Group, is a British hospitality company that operates more than 6,000 hotels and resorts in over 100 countries. IHG is known for its brands, which include InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Kimpton, Hualuxe, Avid, and Garner.

IHG offers a free IHG One Rewards program that allows members to earn points that can be redeemed for hotel nights, transferred to airlines, and more. Members can also earn elite status and receive benefits like room upgrades and late checkout. There are many opportunities to earn and redeem IHG One Rewards points at iconic hotel brands like Intercontinental, Kimpton, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and more.

https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/about/brands

Marriott International is a multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands, including hotels, residential properties, and timeshares. Marriott has over 30 brands and 8,785 locations in 139 countries and territories, with 1,597,380 rooms across its network. Some of Marriott's brands include The Ritz-Carlton, W Hotels, JW Marriott, Sheraton, and Marriott Hotels Resorts & Suites.

Marriott also offers hotel reservations, timeshare vacations, flight and hotel packages, and car rental services. The company also operates loyalty programs, including Marriott Bonvoy, which allows members to earn and redeem points for benefits such as hotel stays, credit card spending, tours and activities, and more. Membership in Marriott Bonvoy is free to enroll in and maintain.

https://www.marriott.com/marriott-brands/explore-our-brands.mi

HSA Advantages

2024-05-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

HSA: Health savings account, or Health investment account, or Health retirement account

Triple tax advantage (contribute, grow, withdraw all tax free)
Invest HSA money (for future growth)
Carry-over (HSA account belongs to you and no expiration like FSA)
Tax free withdraw for medical expenses
Penalty free 65+ use funds on anything (Use HSA for anything after 65 years old)
Use the receipt loophole (Don't use HSA for medical expenses when you are young, you can reimburse yourself for past medical expense after retirement)
You cannot contribute HSA when take medicare (Medicare at 65, no more HSA contribution)

17 books for financial learnings (4 stages)

2024-05-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

the alchemist
think and grow rich
atomic habits
money master the game

the 4 hours workweek
influence the psychology of persuasion
confessions of an advertising man
the never split the difference
the lean startup
how to win friends and influence people
the 48 laws of power
the personal MBA

the intelligent investor
reality transurfing
misbehaving

the creature from Jekyll Island
the house of morgan

24节气

2024-02-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

立春：悄悄地，悄悄地，春的脚步近了。
雨水：随风潜入夜，润物细无声。
惊蛰：初惊蛰，鸟鸣虫动，踏青寻景，春雷相伴。
春分：南园春半踏青时，风和闻马嘶。
清明：书页受了惊扰而跳动，只因不识字的清风太过调皮。
谷雨：春天唱起了歌，她的声音，是存封了千年的酒。
立夏：星影憧憧，醉目点点，是为夏夜。
小满：普洱叶，紫砂壶，菊花几瓣，清泉一掬。
芒种：茶农香清，渗人心扉，哪知艳阳天。
夏至：碧波轻弄影，荡舟杨柳中。
小暑：风摇莲叶轻弄月，一片蛙声唱荷花。
大暑：品夜风徐徐，听蝉声一二。
立秋：卷帘凉暗度，迎扇暑先除。
处暑：西风解事，为人间，洗尽三庚烦暑。
白露：书堆寻碎玉，月下点流萤。
秋分：秋浓蟹肥，邀知己三五，酌花雕数杯。
寒露：为君持酒劝斜阳，且向花间留晚照。
霜降：碧云天，黄叶地，秋色连波，波上寒烟翠。
立冬：冬天的第一个早晨，被喧闹的阳光唤醒。
小雪：片片互玲珑，飞扬玉漏终。
大雪：千树万树梨花开，竟比春烂漫。
冬至：岸容待腊将舒柳，山意冲寒欲放梅。
小寒：折香骨一支，玉瓶置之，就一口雄黄，秀色可餐。
大寒：且忘却浓寒，更登高，观雪景。

白驹过隙，寒暑几许。对酒当歌，回首望，流金岁月，哪有虚度的年华。

5 Fidelity funds

2024-02-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

Fidelity U.S. Bond Index Fund (FXNAX)
Fidelity Total International Index Fund (FTIHX)
Fidelity Zero Total Market Index Fund (FZROX)
Fidelity Total Market Index Fund (FSKAX)
Fidelity 500 Index Fund (FXAIX)

Tax Free investment

2024-02-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Tax-Free Long-Term Capital Gains (below certain income threshold, up to 20% tax rate)
Tax-Free Municipal Bonds (e.g. VTEAX)
Tax-Free Treasury Securities (e.g. Bills/Notes/Bonds)
Tax-Free Roth IRA (after tax contribution)
Tax-Free Roth 401K (after tax contribution)
Tax-Free Life Insurance (IUL - loan with interest rates)
Tax-Free HSA (triple tax benefits)
Real Estate Can Be Tax-Free (Deprecations non-cash expense)
Tax-Free Business (if expense is more than income)

2022-2023年美国50个最佳居住地

2023-12-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Atlanta, Georgia
Tempe, Arizona
Kirkland, Washington
Raleigh, North Carolina
Rogers Park (Chicago), Illinois
Columbia, Maryland
Somerville, Massachusetts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tampa, Florida
Jersey City, New Jersey
Boise, Idaho
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Irvine, California
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Arlington, Virginia
Naperville, Illinois
Milton, Massachusetts
Fremont, California
Carmel, Indiana
Rockville, Maryland
Franklin, Tennessee
San Diego, California
Hillsboro, Oregon
Abington, Pennsylvania
San Jose, California
Alexandria, Virginia
Chanhassen, Minnesota
Denver, Colorado
Overland Park, Kansas
Morristown, New Jersey
Lafayette, Colorado
Camas, Washington
Alamonte Springs, Florida
South Burlington, Vermont
Marietta, Georgia
Kirkwood, Missouri
Glen Cove, New York
Kaneohe, Hawaii
Hutto, Texas
Madison, Wisconsin
Salt Lake City, Utah
Bentonville, Arkansas
Sarasota, Florida
Nashua, New Hampshire
Norman, Oklahoma
Greenville, South Carolina
Juneau, Alaska
Coralville, Iowa
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Sparks, Nevada

FDIC insurance per account limit

2023-04-22T11:18:00.003-07:00

SVB crash in 2023 triggered me to research how FDIC insurance works.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a body that underwrites most private bank deposits. Federal deposit insurance goes to the heart of the FDIC’s mission: to promote confidence and stability in the nation’s financial system. FDIC deposit insurance enables consumers to confidently place their money at thousands of FDIC-insured banks across the country, and is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. Since the founding of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 no depositor has lost a penny of FDIC-insured funds.

The standard deposit insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.

The following ownership categories are covered by the FDIC:

Single accounts
Joint accounts
Certain retirement accounts, including IRAs
Revocable trust accounts
Irrevocable trust accounts
Corporation, partnership, and unincorporated association accounts
Employee benefit plan accounts
Government accounts

FDIC insurance allows account holders to designate up to six beneficiaries who will each receive equal shares upon the account holder's passing. Each beneficiary is eligible for up to $250,000 in FDIC coverage per account owner. By setting up beneficiaries on an account, the account holder can increase their FDIC coverage. Qualifying beneficiaries for FDIC coverage include the account owner’s spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings. (This requirement might have changed)

The owner names five unique eligible beneficiaries and the total deposit(s) allocated to all beneficiaries combined is $1,250,000.

Two ways to do this:

1) Instead of equally dividing the money between beneficiaries in that bank account, you can choose a custom allocation. For example, you can leave 99.6% to one beneficiary and 0.1% to each of four beneficiaries. Those other four beneficiaries could be friends or charities.

2) Sets up 5 accounts (CDs for example) at the bank. The first CD has a balance of $1,249,600 with his wife as a beneficiary. The other 4 CDs have balances of only $100 each, and each has a separate beneficiary. The output of the EDIE calculator which shows that all $1.25 million is insured.

2023 World's happiest countries

2023-03-20T22:20:00.001-07:00

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Israel
5. Netherlands
6. Sweden
7. Norway
8. Switzerland
9. Luxembourg
10. New Zealand
11. Austria
12. Australia
13. Canada
14. Ireland
15. United States
16. Germany
17. Belgium
18. Czech Republic
19. United Kingdom
20. Lithuania

SLA, SLO, and SLI

2023-03-11T22:42:00.001-08:00

We are doing service maturity audit now, and more often than not the team gets confused about these three acronyms, so I want to quickly review here.

An SLA (service level agreement) is an agreement between service provider and customers about measurable metrics like uptime, performance, QoS, responsiveness, and responsibilities. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver the agreement.

An SLO (service level objective) is an agreement within an SLA about a specific metric like uptime or response time. Commit to as few SLOs as possible and focus on the ones that matter most to customers.

An SLI (service level indicator) measures compliance with an SLO (service level objective). To stay in compliance with your SLA, the SLI will need to meet or exceed the promises made in that document. Choose which metrics actually matter to your core SLOs and put your energy into tracking those critical metrics effectively.

For service reliability and availability, build disaster recovery plan and an error budget is very important. Leaving room for failures not only protects the business from SLA violations, but also has the space to try innovative new solutions that might fail. However, production is production, every second matters when service is down. We need to design for failure and plan for failure in service development and operations.

Live site culture

2023-01-29T22:33:00.002-08:00

Live site culture is the focus of an organization to prioritize the experience and reliability of the live site over everything else. A live-site culture promotes the idea that anything that happens in the production environment takes precedence over anything else. Next, anything that threatens production, is about to go to production, or hinders going to production at any time gets priority. Only when these are all in order is the attention shifted to future work.

Live site first
Control exposure through feature flags
Make vulnerabilities real and personal
Engineering is more than an ops partner
Production telemetry is the heartbeat of your service
Make alerts actionable

California National Parks Free Entrance

2023-01-02T10:39:00.002-08:00

Come experience the national parks! On five days in 2023, all National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone. Mark your calendar for these entrance fee–free dates in 2023:

January 16: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
April 22: First day of National Park Week
August 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
September 23: National Public Lands Day
November 11: Veterans Day

优胜美地国家公园（Yosemite National Park）
死亡谷国家公园（Death Valley National Park）
约书亚树国家公园（Joshua Tree National Park）
旧金山国立海事历史公园（San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park）
威思基镇国家休闲区（Whiskeytown National Recreation Area）
美洲杉和国王峡谷国家公园（Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks）
穆尔森林国家纪念地（Muir Woods National Monument）
火山岩床国家保护区（Lava Beds National Monument）
拉森火山国家公园（Lassen Volcanic National Park）
卡布里约国家纪念区（Cabrillo National Monument）
石峰国家公园（Pinnacles National Park）

Products to Platforms

2022-11-13T09:32:00.003-08:00

Here are my reading notes from https://hbr.org/2016/04/products-to-platforms-making-the-leap great research article about transitioning from products to platforms.

1. Start with a Defensible Product and a Critical Mass of Users

Platforms connect two or more distinct groups of users and enable their direct interaction—can generate many revenue streams.

A great platform starts with a great product—one that claims a critical mass of customers and provides enough value to keep them from defecting to competitors (in other words, is defensible).

No platform can thrive unless it creates value for those third parties.

Popularity doesn’t necessarily make a product defensible. (Need moat)

2. Apply a Hybrid Business Model Focused on Creating and Sharing New Value

It’s foolish to think that moving to a platform will revive a struggling product.

In a product business model, firms create value by developing differentiated products for specific customer needs, and they capture value by charging money for those items. In a platform business model, firms create value primarily by connecting users and third parties, and they capture value by charging fees for access to the platform.

Thus successful product-to-platform transitions require firms to engage in activities to increase the value of the product while also trying to attract third parties.

Firms stumble when a “product mindset” leads them to view the value pie as fixed.

3. Drive Rapid Conversion to the New Platform

Provide adequate value.
Stay consistent with your brand.
Involve users in improvements.

4. Identify and Act on Opportunities to Deter Competitive Imitation

One effective way to fend off copycat competitors is to identify and control the openings for value creation.

Firms should consider which aspects of their platforms to own and control. (Control own destiny)

Relocation tips (from China to the US)

2022-10-29T14:55:00.012-07:00

想到接下来团队有几位同学要来美国加州旧金山湾区，就想整理个东西给新同学们，想到哪写到哪，主要还是衣食住行相关的，逐步完善吧。祝大家美国的工作生活一切顺利。

SSN 社会安全号

周五听说新来的同学去办SSN了，是的，这个是一来就要办理的事情，因为工资缴税等都要这个SSN. 这里的Social security number有点像身份证号码，但很少公开，平时用也大多是用最后4位，这个号码贷款等跟信用有关的都要用到。(非常多的scam电话短信，千万不要提供这个号码) 请妥善管理。申请office可以在 https://secure.ssa.gov/ICON/main.jsp 上查询，我当年去的是Mountain View的office, 后来发现 Campbell那边排队的人还好，估计是实在不显眼的原因，也离公司不远。

Social Security Administration

770 W Hamilton Ave, Campbell · (800) 772-1213

信用分

美国信用体系是根据SSN来查的。个人推荐装一个Credit Karma的APP, 可以很好的monitoring自己的银行账户活动和自己的信用分，免费的。新来的同学推荐办2张信用卡先，已开始不要太多，2张足够积累信用分。你的第一张卡一直保留着，这样可以积累credit history.

DMV 车管所

这个是刚来也必去的政府部门，以前的DMV以慢出名，现在也逐渐电子化，很多都可以网上办理，但考驾照还是不得不去DMV office的，具体情况看 https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/

对我来说，很久远的事情了，但应该还是有笔试和路考，笔试有中文的题目，只要提前熟悉记忆这边的交规，应该很容易考过。路考就因人而异了，我当时为了驾照可是去了N趟DMV的，每次都要2-3个小时，正常不过的，所以要有耐心，特别是在国内天天开车的同学。听说也有些教练，会很有帮助，可以考虑去比较偏僻的DMV, 一来排队时间短，二来路考的时候路上的车流量也少，不太容易遇到一些特别的，比如警车，校车，垃圾车等等。

加州现在推行的Real ID, 这个就是经常用的身份标识了，比如买酒的时候，就经常要Photo ID, 我们就用驾照。平时把自己的护照和SSN妥善的保管好，不需要随身携带。

保险

医疗保险公司都有，也有额外的意外险可以购买，都很便宜，不用担心。美国的保险可以一人购买cover全家的。

汽车保险，等买了车后，就需要办理，很多agent代理车险，这个是必须购买的，一般半年半年的购买。

非处方药物

有些非处方药可以很方便的从连锁药店买到

CVS Pharmacy

Walgreens

Rite Aid

Walmart Pharmacy
Costco

手机

美国有5大运营商，不管你是用iOS还是Android, 都有很多选择。公司有手机BYOD的报销，所以办理了后尽快去enroll BYOD, 这样就可以每个月收到报销的费用。湾区主要还是AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, 听说Verizon的覆盖率最好，如果你喜欢经常hiking, camping, 推荐这个。我是用的T-mobile, 还行吧，之前公司没有报销，所以办了个最便宜的。

租房

https://www.zillow.com
https://www.apartments.com

https://www.apartmentfinder.com

https://www.rent.com

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/

买房

https://www.zillow.com

https://www.redfin.com

https://www.realtor.com

购物打折信息网站

Dealsea.com (English)

Dealmoon.com (Chinese + English, 华人社区打折信息，信息量很大)

购物返点网站

https://www.rakuten.com/r/LUCOZH?eeid=28187 (referral & earn $30 using the link to register) 这个是我用下来最好的最方便的, 支持Chrome extension，可以在信用卡返点的基础上额外有返点。美国很多网购都有支持coupon code, 可以用这个插件来帮忙。

买菜

https://www.99ranch.com

Costco (会员制，但在我看来，是性价比非常高的一家wholesale, 忠实粉丝，每月必去。一来后就办理了会员，不过最近Costco也有新会员奖励活动，建议关注dealsea, dealmoon信息)

Safeway (门店很多，很方便)

Wholefoods

Lion market

Marina Foods

Weee!华人生鲜第一站，首单减$20 https://www.sayweee.com/invite_friends/landing?referral_id=2219&t=1&lang=zh

吃饭

DoorDash is a great way to support local restaurants with safe, no-contact delivery. Get $30 off ($10 off each of your first 3 orders) when you sign up with this link: https://drd.sh/AnGW7NreSDX22RUQ

Hungry? Get $20 off your first UberEats order of $25 or more. Terms apply. Use my code at checkout: eats-jimz272ue http://ubr.to/EatsGiveGet

华人餐厅: Cupertino, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Fremont 等有很多, google上随便search就会发现天南地北的口味都有。

买车

建议新车，省掉很多旧车的烦恼，弄个loan, 还帮助积累信用分。

https://www.carmax.com

https://www.edmunds.com/

https://www.kbb.com/

打车

Uber (应该有支持注册奖励)

Lyft （有推荐奖励）

For $15 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link. It's the most affordable ride in town. Terms apply. https://www.lyft.com/i/JIM365509?utm_medium=p2pi_iacc

道路救援

AAA https://membership.aaa.com

购物中心

Westfield Valley Fair

Westgate Center

Santana Row

Eastridge Center

Macy’s

Nordstroms

Great mall

Stanford shopping center

Gilroy Premium Outlets

Simon Premium Outlets (Livemore)

美国网购也是比较发达，几乎零售商都有ecommerce，我个人常用的是amazon, costco, safeway, target, walmart, macy’s, nordstrom, ebay (我很少用)

银行

美国这边的银行一般都有开卡奖励。我当时来的时候都不知道这些，后来才了解到的。跟国内不同的是，这里有checking and saving 两种账户，checking简单说就是支票账户，没有存取限制，平时写支票付房租或者什么的，都是从这个账户走，saving更多是是存款账户，每个月有取款6次的限制。另外很少用的就是CD,类似国内的存单，利率如此低，没有必要定期存款。

Bank of America （网点多，以前新开账户有奖励，不知道现在什么情况）

Chase （新开账户奖励活动经常有，google上找或官网上看)

Citibank (新开账户推荐有奖励，citibank官网显示现在的幅度很大, 根据存入的金额大小，有$300～$2000区间的金额。我个人觉得花旗不错，因为国内也有支行)

上面的三家银行很多网点都有讲中文的银行员工了，另外基本上所有的银行都有网上银行和手机银行。比较方便。

电子支付，这里普及度不高，所以平时出门还是要带着钱包(包括少量现金，因为有些地方是cash only)，我偶尔用的主要是以下的几个工具：

Paypal （支持推荐邀请，有注册奖励）

Venmo （也是Paypal旗下的）
Apple Pay
Zelle （转账/付款等，主流银行都已经支持电话号码或email绑定了）

信用卡，建议开始只办2张，找人推荐，双方都可以拿奖励，也添加申请的成功率。在Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover这些常见的信用卡网络中，Visa, Mastercard 应该是大多地方都收的。

我有个运通的卡，平时买菜返点3%, 但也有少数店不收运通的卡 Apply for an American Express Card with this link. We can both get rewarded if you're approved!

http://refer.amex.us/HONGJZbGCh?XL=MIMCP

另一个强烈推荐的是Chase Freedom行用卡，门槛低，Chase Freedom Flex季度有5%的轮换返点（麻烦的是每个季度要从email里点一下，而不是自动enroll的），我一直用，支持Friend Referral program, 双方都有奖励，办卡者是$200，推荐者是$50.
Earn $200 cash back with Chase Freedom Flex or Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card. https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18a/NUSYFKSF8G or
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18a/DAL4LX30DB
另外一种是Chase Freedom Unlimited, 无限制最低返点1.5%。2个卡的具体对比参考https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/freedom/CFD2022g?CELL=6RRW

证券账户

公司用的Etrade就很好，有stock plan, 也有个人证券账号

我平时用Robinhood, 因为以前这家不收交易手续费，现在应该都不收了。推荐link如下

Join Robinhood with my link and we'll both get a free stock 🤝 https://join.robinhood.com/hongjiz4

DevOps Automation

2022-10-15T23:11:00.002-07:00

I frequently remind the DevOps team about automation to enable standardization, speed and consistency. Manual operations will never scale, so we have to do more and more automations in DevOps work.

First, automated monitoring and reporting for early warnings. Rapid changes means it is nearly impossible to keep track components and changes. Automation helps by enabling the DevOps team to create automated monitoring rules and generate alerts to keep track of Infrastructure availability, performance, security issues etc. Automation will help with TTD, TTM and TTR.

Time to detect (TTD): When performance or other issues arise, rich diagnostic data about the issues are fed back to development teams via automated monitoring.
Time to mitigate (TTM): DevOps teams act on the information to mitigate issues as quickly as possible so that users are no longer affected.
Time to remediate (TTR): Resolution times are measured, and teams work to improve over time. After mitigation, teams work on how to remediate problems at root cause so that they don't recur.

When we talk about service availability, MTTR (mean time to repair) is also critical during an outage, with automation and observability, DevOps engineers can quickly act on mitigation to bring back the service. Monitoring tools collect and analyze system data and translate it into actionable insights. Observability uses the data and insights that monitoring produces to provide a holistic understanding of your system, including its health and performance.

Log management can also be automated. Logs are paramount in identifying issues in an application. An application might generate a large number of logs. Through automation and the aggregation and analysis of these logs using log management tools, you’ll be able to easily pinpoint issues in software.

Apart from monitoring and log management, there are other areas need automation:

Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD)
Infrastructure management
Software testing

Automation, automation, automation. The more we invest in automation, the better Standardization, Flexibility, Consistency, Speed, and Scalability.

读书笔记 - Rich Dad, Poor Dad

2022-08-31T17:25:00.005-07:00

TBD

读书笔记 - Blitzscaling (Part 2)

2022-08-31T17:24:00.004-07:00

TBD

读书笔记 - Blitzscaling (Part 1)

2022-07-31T21:00:00.002-07:00

Blitzscaling is a book about "The lightning-fast path to build massively valuable companies", which was written by Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn cofounder) and Chris Yeh, forwarded by Bill Gates. Whether your business has ten employees or ten thousand, Blitzscaling is the essential playbook for winning in a world where speed is the competitive advantage that matters most. This book talks about "What is Blitzscaling", Business Model innovation, Strategy innovation, management innovation, broader landscape of Blitzscaling, and Responsible Blitzscaling.

Blitzscaling is a strategy and set of techniques for driving and managing extremely rapid growth that prioritize speed over efficiency in an environment of uncertainty. Put another way, it's an accelerant that allows your company to grow at a furious pace that knocks the competition out of the water.

Whether you are a founder, a manager, a potential employee, or an investor, we believe that understanding blitzscaling will allow you to make better decisions in a world where speed is the critical competitive advantage.

The term "blitzscaling" derives from the twentieth-century usage of "blitz" as a way of describing a sudden, all-out effort. The first usage of blitz in this way was to describe the "blitzkrieg" strategy that General Heinz Guderian devised for the initial military campaigns of Nazi Germany in world war II.

Blitzscaling is what we call both the general framework and the specific techniques that allow companies to achieve massive scale at incredible speed.

Classic start-up growth prioritizes efficiency in the face of uncertainty. Classic scale-up growth focuses on growing efficiently once the company has achieved certainty about the environment. Fastscaling means that you're willing to sacrifice efficiency for the sake of increasing your growth rate. Blitzscaling means that you're willing to sacrifice efficiency for speed, but without waiting to achieve certainty on whether the sacrifice will pay off.

Three basics of blitzscaling
1. Blitzscaling is both an offensive strategy and a defensive strategy
2. Blitzscaling thrives on positive feedback loops. In that the company that grows to scale first reaps significant competitive advantages
3. Despite its incredible advantages and potential payoffs, blitzscaling also comes with massive risks.

For business model innovation, the key is to combine new technologies with effective distribution to potential customers, a scalable and high-margin revenue model, and an approach that allows you to serve those customers given your probable resource constraints.

For strategy model innovation, blitzscaling business tend to play in winner-take-most or winner-take-all markets. The greater risk for a successful, growing business is to move too slowly and allow its competitors to win market leadership and first-scaler advantage.

For management innovation, this is necessary because of the extreme strains placed on the organization and its employees by hyper-growth. Companies that blitzscale have to rapidly navigate a set of key transitions as their organizations grow, and have to embrace counterintuitive rules like hiring "good enough" people, launching flawed and imperfect products, letting fires burn, and ignoring angry customers.

Market size, distribution, and gross margins are important factors in growing a company, but the final growth factor (network effects) plays the key role in sustaining that growth long enough to build a massively valuable and lasting franchise.

A product or service is subject to positive network effects when increased usage by any user increases the value of the product or service for other users.

Companies with a competitive advantage can quickly grow to the point where the increasing returns of network effects produce a winner-take-most or winner-take-all market. This also explains why the growth factor of distribution is as or more important to company success as the product itself - without distribution, it is difficult to reach the tipping point.

A significant number of operational issues arise simply because of human limitations. As much as we might wish that we and our colleagues could work tirelessly and seamlessly, regardless of the scale of the organization, the fact is that growth causes us to trip over a wide array of issues.

The power of modularity goes beyond just software development and engineering. The power of modularity, this principle makes it possible for a company like Amazon and its customers to build complex products out of smaller, standardized subsystems.

How the role of the founder changes in each stage:
Stage 1 (Family): The founder personally pulls the levers of hypergrowth
Stage 2 (Tribe): The founder manages the people who are pulling the levers
Stage 3 (Village): The founder designs an organization that pulls the levers
Stage 4 (City): The founder makes high-level decisions about goals and strategies
Stage 5 (Nation): The founder figures out how to pull the organization back from Blitzscaling and start blitzscaling new product lines and business units