BG2008

I'm a little bit surprised that there are no Texas, Nevada, or Florida cities on the list as these states have no state tax. They are also located in sunny locations with abundance of land parcels. Being a real estate guy, I've heard the narrative in recent years that Texas and Nevada are attracting lots of companies as the regulations tend to favor businesses and land use are more flexible. Getting a building permit in NYC requires some serious undertaking. I think Dallas and Las Vegas should be considered as top candidates as well. Those certainly have international airports. Vegas is interesting as the weather is nice (though dry hot) year around. It also helps that there is a ton of entertainment, dinning, etc that is not available in large corporate campuses elsewhere. From a millennial perspective, it is likely attractive as well. As a HHC shareholder, I'm hoping that they somehow decide to locate HQ2 in either the Woodlands, TX, or Summerlin Las Vegas. I would say that Summerlin, Las Vegas would have a higher chance of those two. One can hope.

Seeing how sucessful the 2016 Best Ideas are, I propose that we start a 2017 Best Idea Mine is still FRPH - The company trades at $44 and is worth $63 according to my estimate. Near term catalysts includes consolidation of the multi-family results into Q3 2017 financials. The company has set up all the ground work to convert into a REIT pending Trumps tax legislation. If corporate tax cuts pass through, then no REIT conversion. If no corporate taxes, then will convert into REIT. Win-win either way. If converted will pay a $2.40 per share cash dividend. Although the upside is no where near the Dec 2015 price of low $30, it's good to invest along good capital allocators and sleep well at night.

I thought my tenants were leaving their facets on to spite me...Look at these numbers, they look mighty good 2016 7/1/15- +2.97% $3.81 159% of water = $6.06 = $9.87 2015 7/1/14-6/30/15 + 3.35% $3.70 159% of water = $5.88 = $9.58 2014 7/1/13-6/30/14 + 5.6% $3.58 159% of water = $5.69 = $9.27 2013 7/1/12-6/30/13 + 7.0% $3.39 159% of water = $5.39 = $8.78 2012 7/1/11-6/30/12 + 7.5% $3.17 159% of water = $5.04 = $8.21 2011 7/1/10-6/30/11 + 12.9% $2.95 159% of water = $4.69 = $7.64 2010 7/1/09-6/30/10 + 12.9% $2.61 159% of water = $4.15 = $6.76 2009 7/1/08-6/30/09 + 14.5% $2.31 159% of water = $3.67 = $5.98 2008 7/1/07-6/30/08 + 11.5% $2.02 159% of water = $3.21 = $5.23 2007 7/1/06-6/30/07 + 9.4% $1.81 159% of water = $2.88 = $4.69 New York City Water Rates in the last 10 years

Thank you for bringing this topic up. We tend to hold more cash than most. Any suggestion as to the maturity ladder? Tax consequences? Mechanically, what happens when the securities mature? Does cash just show up in your account? Any issues with fund accounting and accrued interest etc? How do the securities get priced at month/year end.

Always have a 2-3 investment thesis that is well research and extremely compelling... it should be differentiated...recommending Apple is hard because you're not adding any additional insight there Try to provide more value - If you're the type that can pick up the phone can booking meetings with CEOs and wealthy investors, that type of skill set will be useful. We recently hired someone who is very strong in this aspect. People, myself at least, will be willing to invest in your research/analytical skills if you can bring these skill sets to the table Passion/Grit/Willing to Do Everything Type of Attitude - If you can exhibit a "I'm willing to take a huge pay cut to take on this job to gain the experience." That kind of passion is very important. Talent takes you so far, passion and grit can help you overcome a lot of short comings. Scuttlebutt abilities - If you can pick up the phone and track down people on LinkedIn, Corner of Berkshire etc and pick their brain, these are very important skills. Network - This one is a bit personal and up to you to decide. If you has a network of wealthy contacts, you can leverage that into getting an investment analyst position especially for a younger scrappy start up hedge fund. All those skills and willingness may not land you at Greenlight, but it may land you at a scrappy younger fund where you can work closely with the founder/CIO. We recently went this route and hired people this way. Frankly, I think there's a Harvard/Greenlight/Carlyle way of recruiting talent and then there's the Moneyball/Oakland A's way of recruiting talent. As to others who mentioned that there is no need to go the fund analyst route. I think it's each to their own. I was a former mechanical/Aerospace engineering undergraduate. I got lucky in 2006 and pivoted into investment banking. It was a combination of me busting my rear end and asking everyone that I know for a job interview and having the right timing. The 2 weeks of intense IBD training did wonders for me. It taught me accounting concepts and some short cuts in Excel/Powerpoint that I still use to this day. Some of us are self starters, some of us require a bit of structure. Those that can self start, more power to you. Those that need a bit more structure can probably learn more by working for someone else.

Everyone has been extremely helpful with the process. I had some personal reasons why I couldn't conduct full due diligence on mattresses (sleeping on a couch temporarily and desperately need a new mattress so that I can get my zzzs in order to function). I winded up going with Tuft and Needle. The reasoning is that I didn't want to and didn't have the time to go to Mattress Firm or Macy's to go bargain and haggle with the sales people. Ordering online made it a lot easier. Increasingly I'm buying into the Costco method of buying things, make the options simple. I hate "options paralysis". I narrowed it down to Leesa, Casper, and Tuft and Needle. Frankly Tuft and Needle was the cheaper of those three. Returning method was easier, just donate it to charity and show receipt. IMPORTANT - DO NOT ORDER CASPER, LEESA, OR TUFT AND NEEDLE THROUGH AMAZON. The return policy is much less user friendly. Order through their website. It's amazing how much research one needs to conduct simply to buy mattresses and I hate being a schmuck. It made sense for buying a car where the return on investment was worth it. Between running a fund, researching, and managing staff, saving $2-500 was not enough for me to spend days researching the topic. Also my aching back and reduced productivity was eating into the returns the more that I delay the process.

Do you have name, model etc? Please do tell if it's available. Thanks in advance. That's what I've been consistently hearing that the confusion between $200, and $1000 and $4,000 mattress is so great that it makes buying one a pain in the butt. Sure, I bought 2 of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GTCL3SQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This mattress had fiberglass issues. Apparently, the mattress is stuffed with fiberglass and it even gets into the ventilation system for one of the customers. That's why I didn't buy it. "1.0 out of 5 starsEveryone look at this! Do not buy! health and home hazard! ByJ. Swangoon July 23, 2015 Style Name: 8-Inch|Size: Full|Verified Purchase I bought this mattress in 2012. Fine until I removed the cover. The shell inside around the foam is made of fiberglass. New it is probably fine to take off the removable cover and clean it. I've done it a few times. This time the fibers were broken in tiny tiny pieces. I didn't notice and continued on because they are invisible in the daylight. What happened was my whole house and havac system was contaminated. I mean glass fibers everywhere. It's costing me thousands in clean up. Not to mention I cant stay there while it's how it is. The photo is just one square inch of a black shirt. Hard to get a picture because you can only see them in the dark with a flashlight."

Do you have name, model etc? Please do tell if it's available. Thanks in advance. That's what I've been consistently hearing that the confusion between $200, and $1000 and $4,000 mattress is so great that it makes buying one a pain in the butt.

It's interesting that there are two large ticket items that one needs to buy that requires negotiation for the everyday people, cars and mattress. Both are rather unpleasant experiences because if you don't research and negotiate properly, you'll wind up a schmuck. I just got done with the car. Now I need a queen mattress. What's interesting is that the Mattress industry is simply rife with low value for the product. Rent, markups, and sales commission wind up taking up so much of what we pay for. Frankly, having to deal with a salesperson is a pain in the ass itself. This is probably why there are so many mattress startups such as Casper, Purple, Leesa, etc. They want to take the pain point away from people. At this point, I'm properly confused about what's the best value for a mattress. Yes, Casper's mantra sounds great. But it's still a $895 mattress for a queen size. There are literally people on the internet who make a living testing, reviewing, and recommending mattresses. Some of them act as an ad form for certain mattress manufacturers, some of them claim to be truly independent. It's interesting to think about what this means for companies like Mattress Firm etc. But if someone has a recommendation for a great mattress at a reasonable price, it would be great to know. I don't mind paying $800-900. I want to get the vest value. I wouldn't mind going to a Macy's or Raymour Flannagan. If you want to comment on the industry players and how that will evolve over time, I am all ears as well. It's fun to mix a bit of investing with getting the best bargain. At the end of the day, a mattress is about 4-5 shares of BRK.B!!

This is awesome. Do you have kids and wife? I love the be dispassionate about the brand and make. If I were a bachelor, I would totally utilize this strategy. Frankly, I can give two sh*t about cars. It gets me from A to B and as long as it's got enough HP to make lane changes safely, steady enough on the highway, and same enough in an accident, I really can care less.

I went into the same Acura dealership today where I've bought/lease cars from the last two times. I spent 20 minutes looking at the model and features that I wanted (frankly wife wanted a specific model and this was really just a formality). Then I went to a sales agent and told him that I've done all my work and I know exactly what I want. Instead of haggling over different things, fees, add-ons, etc. I basically told him that I'll be his easiest transaction. I'm ready to buy. So, let's cut the BS back and forth and just show me the numbers. If the numbers make sense, I'll buy today. I believe this approach cuts through a lot of the "emotional hooks" and haggling back and forth and it tells the sales person that this sale transaction is his "to lose." Just don't F*** up. I've found that the salesperson tends to only add the real fees and tend to give very competitive prices. We also bought in an existing car for an oil change. It turns out that it needs almost $600 worth of services between oil change, new tire, tire rotation, directional fluids, etc. Once the salesperson shows me the numbers. I thought it was very fair and lower than what I had anticipated via research and about $93% of MSRP (may have to do with end of month and quarter as well). Fees were $595 bank fee (apparently non-negotiable) plus $345 DMV (title, registration etc) and upfront taxes. There weren't other destination, regional, advertising, documentation, prep, ADM, Admin, Fuel Charge, Floor Plan or other weird sounding fees. I told them to cover the $600 service charge and I'll sign all the document right then right there. They agreed and I'm in and out of the dealership in about 2 hours with pick up scheduled tomorrow. I think my negotiation tactic is getting me a good price. But I would love to hear how others negotiate. I figure that doing your homework (took me 2 days of researching and build a spreadsheet) and negotiating the right way can literally save you $2-3,000 on a large ticket item purchase. Would love to hear some feedback. Another things that I want to bring up is that it appears that the residual used in the lease calculation has dropped significantly in the last year. I tracked an Edmund's website where a moderator provides people with 36 months residuals for 15, 12, and 10k miles. I believe the moderator has access to the system and provides residual % on a monthly basis. Within the last 12 months, it seems like the residual has gone from 62% to 57-58% for the same mileage. I believe this is due to large volumes of car leases that result in large volumes of 3 year old cars available for purchase when they come off leases. However, the APR has lowered from 4% to 1.9% during this same time frame. http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-used-cars-20170526-story.html

Guys, this isn't a pissing contest between the US and Canada. I mostly love both countries with some slight issues (bamboo ceilings etc? Don't know what it is? I don't bother loudly protesting it because I'm busy working). Canada is also a destination for some of the people from my hometown. For some reason, they can't seem to accumulate wealth in Canada. Some context is important here. RB's parents are software developers and engineers. Those are typically middle upper class background and training. Let's be objective. The fact that RB's family emigrated to Canada and they can 1) land jobs and 2) do not need to resort to washing dishes and 3) send a bunch of kids to college and 4) the kid become investment manager means that the Canadian system is working. Now let's analyze what happens when you're a rube rice farmer from China and emigrate to Canada. Some of my friends/relative from China who emigrated to Canada generally cited a few issues. 1) The benefits are so good that it's comparable to minimum starting wages, this creates a lot of incentive to not work. Additional hours really aren't available. This isn't a capitalist assault on social programs. These are feedback from people on the ground who can't seem to "work as much as they want and move up in society". 2) None of them seems to be able to start businesses. Capital doesn't seem to be an issue as there is a robust pool of credit among friends and family from the US. I've just never heard of one of them saying "I'm going to open a Chinese Take Out and I need to borrow $100k" This happened all the time in the US. People needed to borrow money between friends and family to open a restaurant or invest in real estate. Our relatives in Canada just never approached us. Whatever the reason, this is indicative of some sort of either "low expected return on business" or some "high barriers to entry for startup". I think it's good for incumbents, but tough for newcomers. As a aggregate, it likely lead to less wealth creation. 3) Most of my friends and relatives in Canada do not own real estate or businesses. I doubt it is a due to foreigner restrictions. It is more likely they simply did not accumulate enough savings to put a down payment down. 4) Most of them would emigrate to the US if they can. They typically emigrate to the Canada first and then attempt to move to the US since Canada has a more welcoming policy. From the take away, I think that Canada works for the engineer and software designer's family to emigrate. But I don't hear a lot of stories where a rube farmer with a protestant or hardcore Chinese rice farmer work ethic can rise up and achieve upward mobility. Some of the direct verbal feedback are that Canada does not have a lot of these low level entry jobs which probably point to more regulation making it hard for business to hire. The good benefits is often cited as a reason why small business doesn't exist to provide entry level jobs. Now these are on the ground stories, they are not controlled study by the economics departments of some reputable Canadian universities. So you can calibrate the information yourself. Some times I prefer on the ground stories because they convey a true sense of what's working and what's not. Not having to pay an arm and a leg for university is a major plus. I think if you are a 3.9 GPA student and you are going to be the top 5% in your field, it doesn't matter as much to have $100k in student debt in the US. But as an aggregate, Canada likely has an upper hand in this instance.

Some observations in the US 1) There is a general pervading thought that everyone needs to get up and go to work whether you like it or not. This is a striking contrast to Portugal and Madrid where if you walk around at noon, there's literally no one on the street. How do you generate productivity if no one is out about getting lunch in Madrid, the capital city of the US. 2) Most American employees feel ashamed if they are not fully employed. Living at home past a certain age is generally looked upon unfavorably (the Great recession has made this a bit more acceptable). There are cultures else where it is totally okay to live with mama in your 30s. I was reading about this about Italian men in the 1990s. 3) Taxes are high enough to provide social safety net. Unemployment benefits, emergency visits, etc. 4) Structured after school programs in most suburban and rural communities that can cater to kids' interest such as volunteering, athletics, music, etc. The fact that a kid in Cornfield Iowa has exposure to amateur baseball is a big testament to the quality of life here in US. 5) Organized sports - Kids in general learn to work together on a team. Many Asian countries do not have the luxury of playing together on a football or baseball team. These soft skills transfer over to business building or just learning to work as a part of a team as a follower. 6) Taxes aren't so high that there's no longer an incentive to get rich anymore. I think this is a serious issue in many European countries where the benefits are immense. But it takes away people's drive to work hard and improve themselves. If you watch the document about Noma. Chef René Redzepi talk about how it's weird to try to be a 2 Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. The culture there is for people to be "equal" and "happy". It's a weird to have exceptionalism in a country that values equality so much. Sometimes you forget that there are countries elsewhere where the society as a whole is the equivalent of a giant participation trophy. I don't think ill of Denmark. I would love to visit Copenhagen. These are my observations. I guess Charlie Munger would call them common sense.

Well said Oddball. When I was looking to set up my fund, I was amazed at how little barrier there was. Capital was mainly the issue. But I could've done it cheaper, I ultimately went with a more reputable firm. I am not saying that America is this magical place where people just got wealthy. It's a place where if you pay your price through hardwork and a bit of luck, you can go from "Son of rice farmers to hedge fund manager." Now, I've also spent time at an Ivy League school where 1/3 to 1/2 of my close circle are people with "III" or "IV" in their names and wealth has been passed down for at least 2 generations. Having that kind of head start is immensely helpful. What I find in the US is that Goldman Sachs will hire the perceived highest GPA and most involved student to be their entry level I Banking Associate out of college regardless of whether that candidate was the son of a rice farmer or has "IV" in his name. This is a great equalizer and opportunity for upward mobility. Does the guys with "IV" in his name have an unfair advantage in that he gets an internship as a freshman at his uncle's hedge fund? Absolutely! But the field is still more equal. In terms of people who left in the 90s and regretting it. I think there are two ways of thinking. Those that left could have more than 1 child and if they ran a business and own some property, they can retire in their 50s. A major plus is that the kids tend to grow up working and tend to be a lot more self sufficient. Those that stayed wind up with 1 child and a kid suffering from "little emperor" syndrome which I believe will make China rather uncompetitive going forward. The issue is that you have a higher chance of having children who can't take care of themselves even at 30-40 years old. Again, I think the rice farmers who left did much better. I think the 4.0 GPA college graduate who wind up working in the Chinese take out in the US was a huge waste of human capital. The guys who were doctors who left to work as a delivery guy missed out big. But some scrappy farmers from my hometown did well. Actually some of those scrappy farmers also accumulated a lot of wealth in China by investing in growth industries.

In the last few years, I've heard a lot about why America isn't that great. These issues include racial issues, healthcare access, etc. Being a NYC resident, I still see immigrants flood into the city year after year. My family was one of those 25 years ago. Perhaps this is survivor ship bias, but my family has experienced upward mobility over the years. Four kids were sent to college and we all make over six figures today and we all have some sort of equity in real estate ownership. You may say that that's your family. You were a part of an intensely driven family. But is it? I have been thinking a lot about this topic lately. See, I came from a small town in China with a 2,000 population. In the 1980s, it wasn't that great to be a citizen of China. We do not have farmland like the US. We were bordered by water on one end and a hill on the back. Agriculture was not really an option. It was a truly Malthusian situation with rapid population growth and not enough arable land to feed everyone. Being people who lived by the water, people found ways to leave. There were four main destinations. US (almost always NYC), Japan, Hong kong, and Taiwan. Back then, the wage arbitrage was incredibly large. If you worked for 2 days in Hong Kong, it was a month salary in China. People used to take these month long "tours" of Hong Kong and then would proceed to wash dishes non stop. Doctors used to do this. In the long run, people who went to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan tend to regret it. People who winded up in the US, on the aggregate, did much better. Why? Despite the fact that American in general think that "my people" all look alike (tongue in cheek humor here), the Japanese are quite xenophobic. They do not grant permanent status to the Chinese. Frankly, they think themselves as superior. If you don't believe me, ask around. Japanese mixed race are treated pretty bad, i.e. Brazilian Japanese. Japan also went through a bad deflationary environment since the 90s. Oh, I almost forgot, you're not really allowed to legally work in Japan as a Chinese immigrant. There is no legal mechanism for you to gain legal status over time. That also extends to home ownership or owning a business. If you think upward mobility is tough here in the US, try moving upward in Japan as a Chinese immigrant. I think Caucasians have an easier time as some sort of high level executive or entertainer. Hong Kong is a tough place. Housing prices are high. If you want to talk wealth disparity, Hong Kong is much worse than the US. Most of my family came here in the early 90s. We run a restaurant like many other families. As a matter of fact, 95% of the Chinese take-out/buffet are run by people in the city where I come from. I was essentially a business manager at the age of 11-12. This is because my parents didn't speak English and I was the most proficient at that age. I didn't say I was any good, but I was the best that they've got. So let's recap this. A Chinese immigrant went to Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and he has a hard time gaining legal status and has to work off the books. Many wind up returning back to China only to immigrate again to the US. There are issues with owning property and businesses. In general, the hurdles are much higher in Asia. Anyway, I was 11-12 and my parents were rural farmers in China. Because we were willing to work 70-80 hours a week, the US basically said "if you can turn a profit selling Chinese food to Jewish housewives on Long Island, more power to you." Now it wasn't all sunshine. It was hard work as I have detailed in my previous rant about the restaurant business. Some of the regulation, fire, health, etc were tough and unfair. At various times, I wondered why do the incumbents not care that some Chinese immigrant came here and just set up shop? I have been witnesses to locals protesting and bashing shops set up by people from other regions trying to start business in my town back in China. People were very protective of their local turf. I also wondered why wasn't the US checking IDs as many businesses hired undocumented employees. Why do the landlord rent to us? My parents can't even pronounce the ABCs. As a 36 year old, I will venture a guess. These opportunities are allowed because of America's business environment. The Jewish housewives wants a meal for $5 per person because she doesn't feel like cooking. It's good value for what she's getting. The landlord rent to us because the Chinese take out is a proven business model and you have former farmers who understand they have to work 80 hours a week to make it work. ICE isn't raiding businesses like us because it's too low of a return on resource. You may feel that this is the case in every country. Then I suggest you travel around and talk to people overseas. In certain areas, just getting a permit can cost an arm and a leg in bribes. While my family has been extremely frustrated by some of the bureaucracy in the US (DMV), for the most part we agree that the US is easier to do business. Subsequent upward mobility came in the form of home appreciation. We made some gutsy calls to take out a home equity loan to use as a down payment to buy in Queens. It's ironic that Queens used to be the place where no white collar office worker would live in. Even Brooklyn was dicey back then. But areas gentrified an the people who benefited were "ethnic folks" like my family. In Japan, this would not have happened because home ownership was not an option. All four of the kids went to college and received merit scholarships and financial aids. But then SUNY schools were dirt cheap and Ivy basically gave you a free tuition if household income is low. The US university system is one of the greatest providers of upward mobility if you know how to fully utilize it. If you want to study literature, Asian studies, or Latin American history, you maybe digging yourself a hole. What is unique is that this isn't just limited to my family. I think that 50% of the families from my hometown owned a Chinese take out business in the US. The outcome is systemic not one-off. I think it's great that in the US you won't be harmed for shouting obnoxious comments about the government and politicians and social injustice. I support people's rights to exercise their first amendment rights. At the same time, I encourage people to look at the situation objectively and understand that for those with a will, the US is likely the best environment for upward mobility. There are some caveat being that I think the US used to attract and were able to keep some of the best and the brightest in tech, medicine, etc. I have noticed that many are returning to their homeland because the opportunities are greater. This could be due to a variety of reasons include "bamboo ceilings" in the US or the graduates having better network/connection/access to start up capital in their homeland. The tech and VC scene in China and India have grown quite robust in the last 4-5 years. Could this be the tipping point? We will see

Can you explain this one a bit more? "Peter Lynch (IMO he got out before his record would have tanked)" I think Peter Lynch is a very underrated. 29% CAGR is very impressive when you buy hundreds of names

Political Correctness be damn!!! If you compare cars to woman, it goes like this: Toyota and Honda are like Asian woman - Good looking/low maintenance and stays that way well into their 50s and 60s BMW are like hot German blondes - Smoking hot and lots of fun in their 20s and maybe early 30s, after that it requires a lot of upkeep, i.e. botox and going under the knife Unleash the SJW!!!

Never got around to calling Hertz. Winded calling Southbay Expressway. They offered to reduce the figures from $85 to $25 because it's a first violation. Given that I'm terrible at following and absolutely abhors talking to "customer dis-service" I opted to pay the reduced fee. In the future, I will take a picture of the transponders and its #s as a record keeping to avoid this kind of crazy BS.

Is 67% over 9-10 years really that good of a return? I will probably get a lot of heat for saying this. But I think if you owned BRK, MCD, Fairfax, and other defensive stocks during 2008/2009, you sell them because they only went down 20-30% while the S&P is down 50-60%. Finding stocks that easily double, triple, or quadruple is fairly easy at that point. So you rotate into something that has much higher risk/reward. I feel like there are still opportunity for you to get back into BRK. BRK was still really cheap in 2011. I remember Tilson pitching BRK as being extremely undervalued at Omaha.

Yeah, I've noticed that before. Unfortunately, I don't even have a twitter account.

The whole thing is a bit ridiculous. Somehow their transponder worked everywhere and it didn't non this particular toll road. Hertz sayd "read the fine print, if you get a ticket, you have to resolve it. It's your problem. We're just gonna charge you automatically. Oh, yeah, you've got like 10 days." Hertz really is a sleaze ball with their tactics. The toll road isn't great either. As an investor, I would be very worried to invest in Hertz or any of the car rental companies as I think it's indicative of their profit generators.

Can you expand on why the niche or "blank" investing should be avoided? I assume you mean the guys who specialize in tech or software or energy etc?

I was in Southern California to attend the Daily Journal Meeting and rented a car. After the meeting, I drove around in a Hertz rental. I saw some charges from my credit card for toll fees from Hertz. Then came the big surprise. South Bay Expressway is looking to charge me $85 total for $5 in tolls that allegedly I did not pay. I did some digging online. Hertz has Platepass which includes Fastrak in California. Since I have a bunch of charges for tolls from Hertz, I deducted that I must have PlatePass and it was functioning properly. South Bay should've charged PlatePass/Fastrak. One way to resolve this is that I can provide the FasTrak Account Number and Transponder No to South Bay. The problem is that I have no idea how to retrieve this data now that it's 6 weeks later. Has anyone dealt with this in the past? Is the best solution to call Hertz and ask them to retrieve the FasTrak and Transponder No associated with the car? Hertz on the other hand sent me a $30 admin fee for passing this problem through to me. It seems like Hertz just passes through the fee regardless. It's about the same as a daily rental. I get it that the rental car company don't make a whole ton of profit, but this kind of underhanded technique is kind of sickening. Apparently, a few years ago there was a class action lawsuit regarding these charges. https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/electronic-toll-collectors-generate-expensive-surprises-for-rental-car-drivers-052715.html http://www.courant.com/consumer/bottom-line/hc-bottom-line-hertz-platepass-20150514-column.html

Yes, your can definitely get excellent Chinese food in Flushing. Actually, you pretty much can get any kind of food in Queens. I Haare generally found that you need to go or be close to immigrant clusters to get gun or ethnic food for reasonable prices. This means you get Indian food in Hicksville, Vietnamese food San Jose, Koerean food in the Korean cluster in a midtown Manhattan, Thai food in Hollywood (Thaitown). WHenever there is a cluster of immigrants, the quality of the ethnic food they like goes up and the prices often go down - competition at work. This also seems to be a matter of supply chain, such that it's easier to get the ingredients readily and for a reasonable cost. Well at least in Long Island, you get very good Italian food pretty much anywhere. Thai food is really good in Elmhurst New York try (Chao Thai or Ayada, they are both tiny restaurants, but amazing food. Literally like 8 small tables). Korean Food is really good on Northern Blvd in Queens. If you drive, there's a restaurant on Northern Blvd called Tang. Amazing decor, great restaurant, spacious, great service, and you can get a set of grilled Galbi and a Soft Tofu Stew for $20 (both dishes). I kid you not. It's my favorite Korean place.

You should go to Flushing for much better Chinese Food if you're looking for Chinese Food catered to Chinese people. Being from the Bay Area means that you're used to much higher quality. I can assure you that within the "catered to Non-Chinese" Chinese food category, the Long Island Chinese food scene is actually much better than Detroit, Colorado etc.