Friday, November 30, 2012

Westwood Library Book Sale

Tomorrow, Saturday December 1st (**GASP** Is it really December already??), Westwood Public Library is holding their quarterly used book sale from 10:30am-3:30pm. The sale is outside the library at 1246 Glendon Avenue at Wilshire (just east of Westwood Blvd.). I went to the one back in September and paid $15 for a box of hard cover cook books, novels, travel guides, and coffee table books. From what I can tell it was mostly community donations mixed with library inventory, but lots of new books in very good condition. They also had DVD's/CD's but nothing good by the time I got over to that section and it was really busy so go early for the best stuff! While you're there, you might as well get yourself a library card, see this old post for more details.

Oh, and right around the corner from the library hiding behind office buildings and parking garages, is a quiet little cemetery called Westwood Memorial Park, the final resting place for some pretty big names including Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Roy Orbison, and both Grumpy Old Men, so go have a little stroll around there too!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Free coffee on a sunny terrace on campus

The Dashew Center hosts these FREE "World Café" days regularly on their 2nd floor terrace at Bradley Hall (on the west side of campus off Charles E. Young Dr. by the tennis courts). They use high-quality, brand name coffees/teas from around the world and there's one this coming Thursday, November 29th, from 1-3pm. You just have to register online so that they know how many people are going.

Friday, November 23, 2012

$15 haircuts at Aveda

I worked as a spa receptionist one summer and was surprised at all the "regulars" who came in for their haircut every 6 weeks. Depending on where you go, a simple haircut can be anywhere between $30-$60 a pop and when we were living in England, they were closer to $80 which was incomprehensible to me. So when money is tight, I tend to just let my hair grow out and ignore the split ends until I find a good deal...

In Oxford there was this fancy salon called Mahogany that would offer free haircuts by their apprentice stylists and I've seen similar ads not only for cheap haircuts but for facials/mani-pedis/massages/etc. by students at the esthetics schools in other cities, so if you don't mind being a guinea pig and have the time & patience (they're in training so they take extra long) to give it a try, this could be a good option. In some sense I think you end up getting better service and (sometimes) a better a haircut because they're putting in extra effort to get it right. Besides, there's always a senior stylist/teacher who supervises and gives instructions and they use high-quality products.

So I was happy to see this ad in The Daily Bruin from the Aveda Institute last week:


If you click onto their website you'll see that the prices listed here are from the "Aveda for Less" promotion which offers $15 haircuts, $15 hightlights, $10 brow/lip waxes, and $35 mani/pedis (including a free bottle of OPI polish which alone retails for about $10). It runs through December 31st for bookings Monday-Friday before 3pm (regular price list here). Also if you just want to use the 20% off any service promo, you can call and say you saw the ad in The Daily Bruin but didn't clip out the coupon, and ask whether they'll still give it to you and if not, then get the equivalent holiday promo.

Otherwise I've seen signs in the windows of so-so salons for haircuts between $18-30 for women (as low as $10 for men at the barber shop beside Stan's Donuts in Westwood), so you could always check those out. Oh and there are often vouchers on all those Groupon-esque sites but I'm kind of taking a break from that whole "daily deals" thing at the moment and chances of one coming up in Westwood are slim.

[2012/12/03 Update]

Sadly I've now heard from three people who have been to Aveda and had a bad experience. Apparently the stylists just chat and complain with each other the entire time, the back room where the services are done is kind of crummy, and the actual outcome less than satisfactory. I've sent Aveda this feedback and hopefully they will address these items, but most likely not...

2-for-1 Tacos in Westwood

A few weeks ago a new restaurant called TLT Food opened up in Westwood Village where The Stand used to be. I guess the acronym came from its origins as "The Lime Truck" in Orange County, winner of The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network. I haven't been yet but it's on my agenda for next week before their 2-for-1 tacos offer expires on Nov 30th (show your BruinCard and get two tacos for the price of one after 8pm in November). Here's an article about it from Grub Street and the ad I cut out of the Daily Bruin:

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Westwood Public Library

I love libraries: quiet reading rooms and shelves and shelves of beautiful books, all properly categorized and alphabetized, free WiFi, free movies, what's not to love? Wherever we move to, we always somehow end up living within a 10-minute walk to the local library; the Toronto Public Library, for example, was hands-down the best public library I've ever seen (with 98 branches it's apparently also the busiest urban library system in the world).

One of the other MBA wives (at Anderson they call us "Sig-O's" which is short for significant others) had the great idea to start a book club in our little circle. This will be my first time joining a book club so I'm rather looking forward to it (gosh this blog makes me sound terribly geeky). I'm hoping it will be a nice mix between the read-serious-stuff-and-have-philosophical-discussions kind of book club and the read-fluffy-novels-and-drink-wine-and-complain-about-your-husbands kind. :o)

So on Friday I finally stopped in at the Westwood Public Library, one of 72 branches of the Los Angeles Public Library system (also up there in the list of largest public library systems in the world). The library's address is 1246 Glendon Avenue, just south of Wilshire Blvd. and a block east of Westwood Blvd. 

Library cards are free to residents of California and valid for 3 years. For proof of residency, you'll either need a photo ID with your current address, or a photo ID plus a personal check or utilities bill or credit card statement or something of that nature with your current address. You fill out an application form and get your card right away and can start checking out materials same day.

Here are some highlights:
  • you can borrow most items for 3 weeks and renew twice (35 cents/day fine if late); CD's & Documentary DVD's are loaned out for a week and entertainment DVD's for 2 days ($1/day fine);
  • you can return to any of the library's 72 branches;
  • you can place a hold online for an item that is in the library catalogue and they will transfer the item to your branch and email you when it's ready for pick up (this was my favourite feature of the Toronto library, so glad they have the same system here!);
  • they have a huge collection of eMedia (eBooks, audio books, music, videos, etc.) so you can download things onto your computer/iPad/Kindle/whatever without even leaving your house;
  • they also organize events like workshops, author talks, Spanish/French conversation groups, and a quarterly book sale (the next one is Saturday, December 1st, 10:30am-3:30pm);
  • when you borrow 5 books from the library, you can ask for a free ticket to the Hammer Museum which is just up the street; and
  • with your library card you get $2 admission (instead of $2.50) into public swimming pools all over the city including the half-Olympic size Westwood Pool.
The Westwood Library's hours are Mon/Wed 10am-8pm, Tue/Thu 12:30-8pm, Fri/Sat 10am-5:30pm (closed Sundays), and I hope you'll go check it out and maybe pick up a book or a movie or two! :o)

[2012/11/26 Update]

Here's a little tip: Items are supposed to be due back in the drop box by midnight on the due date, but they're actually not scanned in until the library opens the next business day. This means if you borrow a few movies Thursday night, the due date on your slip will be Saturday, but since they're closed on Sunday, you technically don't have to return them until half an hour or so before they open on Monday morning (as they clear out the drop box before they open).

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Establishing credit history in the USA: bank accounts & credit cards

As newcomers to the country, we don't have any credit history in the US or a Social Security Number (SSN). This means we will not be approved for things like credit cards, bank loans, cell phone contracts, or leasing/buying a car. In many cases, this also means having to put down a security deposit so that they have some of your money in case you run out on them. This security deposit ranges from $50 for internet, $205 for power & water, $500 for cell phone contract to an additional month's rent. I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of any of my money being held hostage for any amount of time.

I don't know the full scope of this but to eventually qualify for an SSN and have any hope of maybe one day settling in the US, you need to either be employed or to build up a credit history. We entered the US using our I-20 paperwork (issued by the school) which gave us our F1 (student) and F2 (spouse of a student) visa status. Eventually I will write a post just on visas, once I get around to learning all about them (doesn't sound like fun though, does it?), but for right now all you or I need to know is that we are not allowed to work here in the US so getting an SSN through employment is out. So that leaves us with establishing credit history. Enter your first Catch-22: you can't get a credit card without an SSN, you can't get an SSN without a credit history.

The Dashew Center for International Students & Scholars at UCLA offers a handbook which goes over a bunch of different topics on life in the USA for international students. I haven't had a chance to read through their stuff (which I'm sure is very helpful) but for now here's the section on banking. And here is our experience:


Setting up a US bank account 

We went and set up our bank account during our first few days here. Normally banks don't give you an account without an SSN but UCLA is partnered up with Chase Bank so they will overlook this for you. I get the feeling that other banks also would if you bring a fair sum of money ($10k more or less?) to open up an account.

Supposedly Chase will give you a $25 bonus if you mention the Dashew Center when you open an account, but we were told that that's only for students 17-24 years old... However, you could check online for promo codes and I've also--after opening our account, naturally--found postcards in the flyer bin by our mailboxes for a $200 bonus when you open a new checking account, so it's worth looking around.

So we just walked in, sat down with a personal banker (you may need to make an appointment depending on how busy they are), gave him all of our documents (passports, visas, school paperwork, bank statements), signed a bunch of things, and we were good to go with our new debit cards. Once we moved in to our apartment, we went back and updated our address and ordered checks. I don't know about other banks but we only had to give Chase our permanent address in Canada to set things up--or should I say, they would only accept the address that was linked to our photo ID's anyways--but I remember in the UK they would only give you a bank account once you had a home address (another Catch-22: no home address, no bank account; no bank account, can't sign rental agreement...).

TIP: They don't advertise this but with Chase you are not charged any monthly account fees for the first two months. I don't know if they have always done this or if it's a new thing. So we went for the most expensive "Premier Platinum" checking account which is normally $25/month (waived if you keep >$75k in the account but we for one are lucky if we have $75 in the account let alone $75k) and includes some great perks like free checks (normally $18.95/book!), no fees for cashier's checks/money orders, no fees for incoming wire transfers, and no-fee withdrawals from other non-Chase ATM's (though the other bank may still charge you). Start off with this account and order your checks, do all the heavy banking you need to (which is usually the first couple of months anyway when you move to a new place), then downgrade to the basic plan before the two months is up. Even if they do start charging the $25 fee it's still worthwhile to start off with this at least for the first month because you'll break even after a checkbook and a cashier's check to pay your initial rent/deposit.

Getting a US Credit Card

Okay, this part is a bit trickier. Not only do we not have credit history in the US, but as a student (and a spouse to a student who is not permitted to work), we also had no income. Awesome. Can we have credit cards, pretty please? No? Okay.

We did have a little bit of savings and Chase said that if we each had $10k to our names, then they will submit an application which will be denied but which they can re-submit for special consideration. I went in to start this process a few weeks ago, got our rejection letter pretty quickly, and haven't heard back yet about the special consideration part, but I'm guessing it was a no or we would have seen our cards in the mail by now.

Lucky for us, we have been American Express customers for the past 8-9 years in Canada and they have a Global Transfer Program that considers your existing Amex history in one country in order to approve a card for you when you've moved to another (I don't know if other credit card companies have a similar process so you'll have to look into yours and find out). I have always loved American Express customer service: you never have to wait too long on the phone (today they pretty much picked up immediately), you always get a real person who can actually speak English, and everyone I've ever spoken to has been friendly, courteous, and helpful. My Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card will be in the mail in the next 10 days. Awesome. (More on the SPG card in another post, I've had it for many years, it is the best travel/hotel rewards program out there).


Finally, from what we've been told by our personal banker at Chase, the way to build credit history is actually to NOT pay off your credit card bill in full each month (which I have always done) but to leave 15-25% of your credit limit as a balance on your card for the first six months or so. This is counter-intuitive to me but apparently shows the powers that be that you can manage the money you borrow and pay back. I am fine with doing this with the Chase visa card which is interest-free for the first 15 months but I don't like the idea of paying interest on anything so I'll have to look into this more if we don't end up getting the Chase cards.

P.S. I will write a separate post another time on the best way to get your money from your home currency into US dollars, at least, like all of my posts on this blog, on our personal experience thereof.

[2012/11/23 Update]

Apparently Citibank and Bank of America both let you open bank accounts without a SSN/credit history as well, they're just not affiliated with UCLA and therefore not as widely advertised.

Also, our application for the Chase visa card has come back denied so we applied for the "Forward" visa card from Citibank instead. This is a credit card designed specifically for students without a SSN/credit history in the U.S. and gives you up to $2000 credit limit to start with, no annual fee. Purchases are interest-free for the first 7 months and then 12.99% APR after that. We walked into the Citibank branch in Westwood, Mike filled out the application, showed his passport, BruinCard, past couple of bank statements, and that was it. The card should come in sometime next week.

I also learned that until you get a SSN, whatever credit history you do build does not get submitted to the credit bureau as an official record, so until you get a SSN and attach it to your file, having and using a credit card will not help your credit ratings, even though you are technically building credit history.