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Traveling in the Deep American South: Misconceptions & prejudices as a Northerner & an Asian-American…

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  Savannah Georgia, waterfront  Woodrow Wilson:  “The only place in the world that nothing has to be explained to me is the south.” American South, especially the Deep South , comprising of states like Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana , had a huge role on this Korean-American immigrant’s view of the United States.  As someone living in the American North (New York City), I had a difficult time understanding the motives of Southerners, who relied on slave labor to drive their plantation/agrarian economy at around the time of the Civil War . I questioned why anyone would condone slavery.  Why would anyone use other human beings as sources of income?   Civil War , which pitted the North against the South, was a pivotal moment in the development of this nation.  As traumatic as that war was, the end of the war brought about a new path forward for this healing nation to work together as one, to forge a path into the 20th century, fu...
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Marking the 5 year anniversary of our early retirement: Our thoughts and observations in our personal journey of FIRE (financial independence retire early)…

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  Dalai Lama:  “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” I consider 5 years to be a fairly important milestone whenever we partake in an endeavor.  Sure, early retirement isn’t really an endeavor, but it’s pretty close to that for me.   With every fiber in my being telling me every day I was working, that I needed to get out of this job that had become so stressful the last couple of years.  I was tired, stressed, and wanted to be free from the shackles of modern day rat race.   I was so relieved when I finally called it quits after working for 20+ years, with 14 of those coming from my last job (Information Technology field) that I would retire from.  August 17th, 2020 would be my day of independence, my day of saying goodbye to the rat race. Who would’ve thought just 25+ years ago when I was starting out, earning money on my own to pay my own bills, that I would be retired (early, thank you very much)?  When I started working for a paycheck, i...
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Top attractions near Annapolis, Maryland: Fun filled 3 nights/4 days back at Annapolis

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  Downtown Annapolis, Maryland  The last time my wife and I visited Annapolis was roughly 8 years ago.  Back then, we still had our fur baby, our Pomeranian, Toby.  We were living in Pennsylvania at the time, and we took a day trip out to Annapolis to check out the sights. We walked around the downtown area, explored a state park nearby, and had ourselves some delicious lobster rolls for lunch, then stopped by again at the same restaurant to take them home for dinner.  We had a great time together as we even got to sneak in a rejuvenating afternoon nap in our car, all three of us, at the aforementioned state park. Listening to sounds of birds while taking an afternoon nap is one of life’s simple pleasures, and afterwards we really did get our second wind back.  We stayed roughly 6 hours at the city exploring the place.  By the time we got back home, it was around 10 o’clock.  Nice day trip indeed! It would end up being 8 years for us to get back ...
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Why staying invested in the stock market at all times is one of the most important things you can do: A journey of FIRE (financial independence retire early)…

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  Warren Buffett:  “Successful investing takes time, discipline, and patience.” The year 2025 has been a strange year so far.  Stock market, which had been chugging along in early 2025, met some interesting turbulence right around the end of February, thanks to Trump tariffs placed on countries at that time. Starting from that time, the S&P 500 index , the most watched stock market index in the world, dropped almost 20% the next few weeks.  It wasn’t until June that the index recovered from this precipitous decline, scaring one too many investors in the process. I also watched my investments drop close to 20% those couple of months.  It’s never fun to see your hard earned money go down the drain.  But it is in these exact moments when everything in your being screams “ Do something! ”, that we must do something that is really, really difficult.   That is, to do absolutely nothing … I have lived through something like 5 different shocks to the stoc...
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