New York on Nick Wang

Reverse the pecking order and Rectify the unjust banking structure

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:16:31 +0000

Just came back to Seattle and saw this on the news:

Merrill Lynch exec, Peter Kraus, got paid a $25 million bonus for what amount to a few weeks of work. This is after Bank of America had bought out Merrill Lynch and received a $25 billion cash infusion from the US government’s bailout plan. Peter Kraus just bought a $37 million, 5 bedrooms co-op apartment in NYC’s Upper East Side, at 720 Park Avenue.

I have a big problem with things like this and those greedy CEOs getting multi-million dollar salary / bonus while the average Joe can barely survive from paycheck to paycheck! I guess it’s due to my background, my father is an engineer and I also worked as an engineer at Microsoft and Yahoo! People like us are “creators”, we develop, implement & maintain things so that businesses can run, produce and earn money. To engineers and scientists, there’s more to a job than just monetary compensation, we also look for that sense of accomplishment when we create meaningful things for the world!!! We take pride in our work based on our achievements and meaning, more than how much money we make!!

I’ve always had a hard time understanding finance and the stock market. Why are these people simply trading papers and can make a shitload of money while producing no quantifiable products for the world? Why are we letting these people control our money??! Anybody else think that this is seriously fucked up?!! I wish someone would enlighten me and may be we can find solutions to fix this social unjust, reverse the pecking order, and take back the control of our hard earned money from the evil banks. Speaking of evil, I’m reading “The Google Story” and one chapter is about Google’s process to IPO. What these guys had done really impressed me! Excerpts from the book:

Larry and Sergey knew about the scandals - some criminal, some unethical, all evil - where Wall Street underpriced IPOs and then let favored clients profit by dumping the stock on day one, after the price skyrocketed. The guys wanted no part of what seemed to be a corrupt and rotten system. Google used an egalitarian method for distributing stock to the public, this means anyone can participate, and would overcome the Wall Street bias toward underpricing. Brin and Page resented what they viewed as a Wall Street monopoly when it came to fees. All the firms charged the same exorbitant fees for handling IPOs - 7%; in a $2 billion public offering, they would earn $140 million. … They decided they would compensate Wall Street at less than half of the usual and prevailing fees, and if the brokerage houses didn’t like it, they didn’t have to participate in the deal. Furthermore, they developed detailed plans to wrest control over the unfair pricing and allocation of shares, and reserved the right to cancel the deal at the last moment if they changed their minds. To put it mildly, the Google Guys were sending a “drop-dead” message to Wall Street. Larry and Sergey were advised by their outside lawyers that once they filed IPO documents with the SEC, they would enter something know as the “quiet period”, when they would have to make sure they said nothing to tout the value of Google stock. As populists, it made no sense to Brin and Page that the quiet period permitted something called a road show, where they would meet behind closed doors with big money people, the institutinal investros and heavyweights of Wall Street, to give presentations and answer questions. Why did it make sense to give those big insiders an advantage at road shows gatherings, leaving outsiders and small investors to fend for themselves? This seemed like a typical self-serving Wall Street tradition, and they aimed to break it, or at least bend it, in the process of going public. They would say little or nothing new at the road shows, and give everyone access to the same additional data about Google by posting it on the Internet.

Finally, another excerpt from the same chapter that talks about engineers and good and evil:

Many of the best engineers had a strong sense of the deeper philosophical issues of right and wrong, and of good and evil. Technology, in and of itself, could be a force of light or darkness. By instinct, talented technologists were attracted to a company that had appealing values and virtues that went beyond maximizing profits and market share.

A little too exaggerating, may be. But all the same, a lot of my colleagues at Yahoo! felt the same way back then. (though we certainly didn’t mind when our stock options kept shooting up either.) :P

Comments

Jason Khanlar — 2009-02-09 01:06:47

I agree wholeheartedly. :3 Interesting blog!

U.S.-Japan Innovators Project Symposium

Fri, 25 May 2007 01:19:10 +0000

Last night, my sister got us free tickets to Japan Society’s “U.S.-Japan Innovators Project Symposium: Improvisation, Creativity, Collaboration: Fueling Innovation in the 21st Century”. The first speaker, Daniel Pink, is actually on a fellowship from Japan Society, and he talked to us via high-speed video link from Keio University in Tokyo. I was really impressed with the quality of both the video and audio quality. (And the quality of the actual speech itself too.) The video was projected onto a huge screen and the resolution is very high, there was no lag in neither the video nor audio feed. Anyway, his speech was about his new book - A Whole New Mind. Basically, it’s about how our left brain, which does logical things, is becoming less important than our creative right brain. I couldn’t agree with him more… especially on the issue of current education systems and standardized testing. Those stuff absolutely kills the children’s creativities. Then, we get to hear jazz musicain Marty Ashby play. Good stuff. One thing he mentioned was that children are born innovative and we adults keep taking it away. Finally, Hiroshi Tasaka, Professor at Tama University, talked about … Adult Joy… LOL! Sounds dirty. But actually, it was pretty meaningful. The things that I took away from his speech was 1) it’s hardship that makes a person grow. 2) Life is happening while you make your plans. 3) once again, it’s hardship that shapes your path in life. 4) The person who gives you a lot of pain and sadness is your Buddha. 5) The Japanese verb “to work” 働く can be interpreted as はた + らく ~ neighbour + happy. So, to work is to make your neighbours happy.(?) 6) and finally, never put your speech notes onto powerpoint and show them your audience while reading off of them. Seriously though, I enjoyed it very much, especially given my current state of “hardship”. LOL… So, my bitch-ass boss is actually my Buddha and she’s shaping my path. LOL. Enlightening!

Comments

Designing the Future: Japan’s Tech Revolution - A Customer-Driven Corporate Perspective at My Journey to Japan — 2007-06-12 11:13:20

[…] couple of weeks ago, my sister told me about a U.S.-Japan Innovators Project Symposium event at the Japan Society in New York. You can read about my thoughts on the event from the link […]

Designing the Future: Japan’s Tech Revolution - A Customer-Driven Corporate Perspective « Before I Die — 2008-12-14 09:37:30

[…] couple of weeks ago, my sister told me about a U.S.-Japan Innovators Project Symposium event at the Japan Society in New York. You can read about my thoughts on the event from the link […]

Had "Okinawan" food last night

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:22:06 +0000

At a place called “Suibi Japanese Restaurant” at 53rd St in Upper East Side. It’s Japanese Restaurant Week this week and I found this place on the list. At JapanesePod101, I had learned about Okinawa food like ゴーヤチャンプル and タコライス and their unique alcohol 泡盛. They didn’t have “Taco Rice”, the Goya Champuru was ok but I don’t really like that bitter plant… We ordered something that looked pretty good on the menu, it’s called 豆腐よーうー and it’s described as Tofu added with 泡盛なっとう to become a cheese like texture… well, it turns out to be the same as a Chinese 腐乳 (is that how it’s written?) A tiny block of it cost me $8.75! I felt seriously ripped off! What are some other suggested food from Okinawa? I was disappointed last night, but I’ll definitely try again if I can find another place that serves Okinawan food. :)

Complaints about my cheap landlord - Part 2

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:41:00 +0000

Complaints about my cheap landlord - Part 2 Sorry to keep ranting, but blog is actually a good way to document what is happening so that in the future, you can use it as evidence or a reference in time if needed. So last time there was the heat problem, the truth is, I’ve gotten a nasty cold because of it… It was so bad that even after my 10 days of antibiotics, I was still sick! (I finished the anitibiotics on Monday and starting late Tuesday, I began to feel it come back again!) Luckily for me, I finally had a good sleep on Friday and it became better, so I knew it was a slight flu instead of the same cold. I took some NyQuil (My favorite drug in the whole world!! :D) and slept some more. I’m feeling much better now. (But still not completely out of it.) I’m documenting here because according to NY state’s tenants’ rights, I can sue

to lower my rent because my landlord couldn’t provide the necessary utilities, which are supposed to be included the rent payment. Now this morning, we had a bit of a drama. Queenie was ready to leave for work, (I was finishing some pre-breakfast) when she suddenly screamed about can’t opening the door. I gave it a try, sure enough, the nob won’t turn… we were locked in!! You know from my previous post that a) this Greek landlord is cheap, b) he had recently installed a new lock. So this lock is NEW!!! I called the super up, Jerry, and once again, he was like… “OK, I try to come this morning.” What the fuck do you mean “try to come”?! We’re fucking locked in!!!! What if there’s a fucking fire you fucking fuck!!! I knew I can’t rely on him, so I began to take the lock apart by unscrewing the face plate, but then I realized what a hell of a mess it will become and also I can’t guarantee that I can open the door. So I screwed the plate back in, took a look at the door crack, and I remembered… “Hey! I used to be able to pick these door locks from the outside with a subway ticket! Now I’m inside, it should be even easier!” I gave it a try, I found a piece of thing metal, (since I don’t have to bend around a corner to reach the hinge) slide it in, and *click*, the door was opened! HAHA!! It turned out, there’s a button on the lock’s side panel for switching the “auto lock” on and off. We had it “off” so that we can just go outside to throw away trash and not get locked out. Somehow that button was switched to “on” last night, but still, it’s only supposed to lock the outside nob, not the inside!!! Anyway, once again, I’m documenting this because according to NY State tenant’s guide, landlord is supposed to provide safety measures, like intercom and working door locks. Our building has no intercom and my door lock is broken. So if we ever get burglarized, we can sue for damages.

Comments

Jackie — 2005-11-09 09:22:00

Hahaha. Broken door lock… oh wait, it was switched to “ON”?!?!? LOL–>

NYC - Cheap landlord families in Astoria

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 20:27:00 +0000

NYC - Greek landlords in Astoria (Cheap) I had previously posted in my Yahoo!360 blog about my cheap landlord not fixing the water heater for more than a week, forcing my gf to take ice cold showers. Now, it’s end of October and the bastard still hasn’t turned on the heat for us. Man, and I thought only Asians were that cheap! LOL… This landlord and the superintendent are families, they obviously own quite a few buildings in Astoria, a traditionally Greek neighborhood. (Astoria is supposed to host the largest young Greek population outside of Greece.) After moving to Astoria, I found out that Greeks are not that much different from the old Chinese immigrants. I’ve heard that there are old Chinese immigrants that moved to NYC and never set foot outside of China town.

They have lived here all their lives but can’t speak a word of English. Apparently, this kind of “living only within your own people’s community” is not limited to the Chinese. The Greeks, the Jews, Italians, Hispanics… actually, come think about it… most people only live within their own communities… hence all the segregated neighborhoods in NYC… Anyway, my super, I have to call him up to get him to do anything! And it’s hard to communicate with him ‘coz his English sucks… Last Friday, our door lock finally broke down. I called him up and he came, took the lock out, showed me that the inside was bent and sort of accused me of breaking it! I said it has always had problem ever since we moved in. He said he would buy a new lock and install it the next day (Saturday), he never came. I had to call him again Saturday night, then again Sunday morning to get his ass down here. When he finally fitted the lock, he said he would sent the bill to me! I was like “Fuck that!! I didn’t break it, u should’ve fixed it before we moved in.” God damn!! The super drives a fucking Mercedes, we pay a whopping $1600 a month for rent and somehow, we still have to endure ice cold water, no heat and pay for our own lock?! And what’s up with the other tenants?! Why aren’t they complaining?!! I have the NY State Attorney General’s “Tenant’s guide” in my hand, so I know my rights and I know I can sue my cheap-ass landlord to lower my rent payment because they don’t provide the necessary “utilities” which was include in the rent. I think I should try suing. What have I got to lose? :D

8/25 Fire Next Door at 3am

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 00:15:33 +0000

0825_04_Fire_Next_Door_at_3am Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

God Damn’it Yahoo 360, I had blogged about this through my Yahoo Messenger, but apparently it didn’t go through. Fuck it, it’s so much easily to blog from flickr to blogger. So anyways… Queenie woke me up in the middle of the night, saying something’s happening outside. I’m glad she’s so alert in her sleep, as I’m the kind that can sleep through an earthquake on the 19th floor of a Hyatt in Tokyo! I woke up, took a glimpse outside of the window, a fire truck was parked right outside and it was extending its ladder at that moment… There were many people standing right below my 2nd floor apartment…

the flashes of emergency lights made the scene almost surreal. The first thought in my mind was, “Suurrrrreeeaaaal… woooo…. I should take a picture…” But the next thing I saw was smoke blowing across my window, and so we decided to go downstairs to check out what happened. (Leaving Siu Bak and Yoyo behind :P ) Turns out it was the 5th floor apartment next to us, some cardboard on the wall caught fire or something. We stood there for about 5 minutes, meanwhile some paremedics arrived, but the fire fighters are packing up, so that means the fire had already been put out. So, we went back upstairs and zzzzzz… It was 3 am in the morning, yet there were quite a few young couples that were just returning home from a night of partying… That should tell you that this neighbourhood is pretty hip and safe. ;-)\

Made a new friend on the subway on 7/20

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 20:46:00 +0000

Made a new friend on the subway on 7/20 I didn’t think it could happen but it did. 7/20 was another regular Wednesday of any week, I got off work at 6:30, got on the F line at 14th St, change to N, W line at 34th St. I stuck my foot into the closing door of the W train but the damn operator wouldn’t open the doors. I gave up, got on the next N train and sitting directly in front of me was this girl with what looked like the British version of Harry Potter 5 - the Order of Pheonix. I took out my PDA and continue to read my Harry Potter 6 on eBook format. When it was close to my stop, I thought I’d ask her if it was in fact the Brits version and if she had gotten it here in NYC.

Turns out she was from Germany and she got the book in Germany. It was fun chatting with her, we got off at the same stop, chatted for a while longer, then we got each other’s name and phone number and parted ways. NYC is so full of people who don’t care for each other. On the subway each day, we see hundreds of people. Most probably don’t believe they will ever make a friend on the subway! But I guess it could happen. This is the just like getting blown up in a suicide attack actually… the right time, the right place, the right train, the right seat… you make a new friend, you get blown up. It’s all written down in your fate. >:)