opportunity cost
noun Economics
the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen

I’ve finally decided I’m going to take several things I’ve been planning to sell on eBay to the eBay store instead. I say this because, while I’m not too fond of having 40% in fees taken away from my eBay postings, the 60% left is still far better than getting nothing. Which is exactly what’s been happening to things like my wireless router, ipod classic, etc that I’ve been meaning to post up on eBay since a year ago. It takes quite a bit of time to take photos, write up copy that helps sell the product, find packaging, create shipping labels, wait for payments, take it to UPS.

I guess there’s some merit to taking a pile of useless (to me) shit to iSoldIt and say, “here, take care of this.” Now I can go about the other hundreds of errands I need to do and simply wait for the checks to roll in (even at their modest amounts). Again, better than nothing.

Update: In my second WTF moment of the day, the first being how crowdedly insane Torrance Crossroads is today, I found out that ISoldIt only post up items valued over $100. Useless now and critical FAIL. Looks like I better buy some bubble wrap today. Sheesh.

I’ve mentioned Mochi’s pica issues before. Two other things he does is unroll the toilet paper and most egregiously, knocks down the rice offering from my Mom’s altar on the fireplace mantle, breaking said offering bowl in the process. Here are the solutions I came up with that have been quite effective.

1. Stapled a cat scratch deterrent to the wall. Not pretty, but we’re not throwing away loose rolls anymore.

2. Installed rare earth magnet catches on the sliding closet doors. No more of Fu’s prized exercise wear and clothing getting eaten.

3. Used mounting putty to securely hold main bowl and a smaller amount within to hold the offering bowl.

I had my very own Schrödinger’s Cat episode yesterday. I took some empty cans to our garage on my way out to work. Apparently, I had left the garage door open. When Fu got home, she called me up saying it was left open, but didn’t have time to see if anything was missing. The garage door, of course, was closed by the time I got home. At that moment, my new bike and pretty much anything else of value in the garage were in the state of being both stolen and not. Thankfully, everything was left intact.

Reader Advisory: If you tend to become uncomfortable listening into a person’s very personal and private matters, you should probably read no further.

When I was a kid, my mother was dating one of the assistant cooks at the restaurant where she worked. He was a good man, if not a little playboy-y. It was the 70s, after all. At one point at around my mid-teens, she told me they wanted to get married and asked me how I thought of it. WIthout much hesitation, I recall objecting to it.

It’s something that comes to mind every now and then. I wonder how things would have turned out differently. I think about how disappointed and hurt my mom may have been. However, I am more than comforted by the idea that she put my own livelihood and happiness before her own. In hindsight, it was not only selfishness on my part, but I’m sorry to say, racism as well. Mr. Gonzales was from El Salvador. He was a hard worker and genuinely cared from my mother. I’m sure she felt the same. At the time, I just couldn’t see him as my step father. It’s not something I can regret at this point either, since if they had gotten married, I’m fairly sure I would’ve been unhappy (for no good reason). At least for a while.

If my mother were alive now, and told me she’d found a nice person that she wanted to marry, I wouldn’t hesitate to approve and encourage it, regardless of who it was. But that’s today. And it took my own suffering and anguish at losing my mother back when I was 23 to completely alter my worldview. That’s one of the problems with someone dying early—while you can’t change the past, there’s nothing you can do to change their future. Because they don’t have one.

My mother’s birthday is tomorrow. She would’ve been a very youthful 66. The only meaningful present I can give her now is to keep trying to live true and straight. And above all, know empathy and compassion to make up for my youth when I didn’t have much of either.

I had the weekend to myself, so I thought I would splurge, calorie-wise, at least one day. And for that, I decided to try out Kyochon Chicken since it’s so close to my house.

While I would agree with reviewers that it’s damn good chicken, I would also agree with most people in saying it’s way overpriced for what it is. $16 only gets you 8 wing pieces (not whole wings either-in that little box pictured) and a large side of fried rice, a small salad and drink. Their kimchi fried rice, in all modesty, is not as good as mine. It’s rather heavy on the kochujan and sesame oil. And they give you a LOT, as pictured. I’d be much happier having more wings and less fried rice. For about $2.50 you can get almost as good wings at Yoshinoya (of all places). Honestly, their wings are good, try them. For about $6.00 you can get equally good wings at Furaibo. So while I won’t argue the taste of Kyochon, there are much better ways to spend your money. And if you want beer with those wings, well, Furaibo it is.

Here’s a quick update about my home troubles I mentioned back in June—almost nothing’s changed. At this point, the contractors who got rid of the mold but left my house a wreck, finally got paid. I still don’t have any funds to repair the damaged areas. Still working on that angle with my public adjuster.

The reason I’m writing this post, is to tell you, dear reader, that if you own or plan to own a condominium or townhouse, you MUST have very good, comprehensive coverage. I will admit in hindsight that I thought the insurance we had was adequate, but it wasn’t. Something like water damage, mold remediation, a tree going through your wall, termites, smoke damage, is not going to be fully covered under a standard policy. It’s also really important to go with an insurer who has a really good reputation as opposed to simply being inexpensive. If they have a poor track record of filling claims, that should be a warning to you.

Condo owners should have at least $50,000 in “alterations and additions” coverage. In our case, the mold remediation alone cost almost $10,000. The repairs will cost $16,000. Our coverage maxes out at $10,000. Not nearly enough. And in terms of damage, it’s minor compared to much worse things that can happen. The fact is that inspectors and contractors can cost a lot of money, regardless of if you think it’s a racket or not. The repairs still need to be done. Do yourself a favor and review your policy and get as much as you can.
I have full coverage on both automobiles, why did I skimp on home owner’s insurance? Ignorance and laziness will kill you every time.

Not the pica as a unit of measure used in graphic design and printing. No this is when people or animals eat non-food items. In this case, it’s Mochi. He’s recently take to eating all manner of textile goods. Fu and I have lost all manner of socks, shirts, and the like to his voracious nibbling.

The latest victim was my favorite Pat the Bunny doll. Apparently boredom and a lack of dietary fiber are possible culprits. Perhaps he should join me at the breakfast table for some Fiber One.

He does like cat grass but we haven’t put it out lately because Kitty’s stomach is so weak she throws it up as soon as she eats it. If it’s not one thing it’s another. Well, the cat grass is back in and Kitty will just have to deal. Hopefully she’ll learn some cause and effect. Eat grass = be ill.

That is to say, no biking so far this week. My crankset on the bike broke down on the ride home on Friday. Also, the air quality is far from good because of all the fires. This is maybe a much needed break after achieving quite the biking trifecta last week. That’s where I not only hit 4K miles, but also earned my 13th gift card for commuting and also rode all 5 days of the week. Taking my bike in today. We’ll see what the repair bill’s gonna be like. Sigh.

I’ve finally reached the next milestone of bicycle riding. Now onto the big 5K!

Playing around with Google Maps, I’ve found that 4,000 miles away means just about Greenland, the eastern side of Russia, and the northern end of Brazil and Chile. That’s a lot of frakking biking. Also, iPhone camera–Really? You decided to focus on the ground?