They are everywhere

It's supposed to be winter break, but I don't feel that way yet. Every day is something about recruiting, something about the Beijing Trek, something about HK Bank Week, something about school.

As usual, the HK media blasted the police for using too much force against WTO protestors... after blasting them for not doing enough to keep the peace. Thanks for reporting, guys.

On the bright side, the glue worked and our pavements have been kept in tact.

Once a day...

Sometimes it can be rather challenging to find something to post at 330am. I'm doing this because I pledged so.

Ah, pollution. I felt dizzy going out on the streets. Maybe this is why the economy is booming. KEEP THEM IN THE SHOPS!

WTO meetings are rolling around. Security is heightened. I hope my Korean classmates won't be mistaken for Korean protestors. The news says the Hong Kong police have GLUED the bricks on the pavements so the protestors cannot throw them at the police. Good tactic. Good tactic. Korean protestor leader (why are they getting a bad rap anyway? there are many more other protestors!) responds: since they glued the bricks, we will find another way to protest, maybe a way never used before. HMMMMM...

Post Finals

Well, if there's one golden lesson you learn from business school, it is this: you will feel guilty about any idle time. So what did I do the day after? Cover letters, recuiting emails, company research... these seem worse than classes themselves!

I'm finally heading back to Hong Kong. Looking forward to this break. Oh, and I'll try and make a post every day. Something simple that touched my soul. Here it is:

I watched Syriana last night. It was quite boring and disjointed, so I fell asleep every now and then. At the end of the movie, I was lost and had no idea what was going on. Anyway, while not feeling that good about spending $8.50 to take a nap, I wasn't feeling too bad. It was, after all, a nice nap. Funny thing is, EVERYBODY coming out of the theater was saying "when did you fall asleep/wake up?" haha.

Well, my immediate reaction was: wow, this is just like class...!

Done!

Done. $12000 well spent.

Shocking parallels...

In my kichen, there lies two bags of chip (one half consumed), Reese's Pieces, granola bars, and Chips Ahoy... you know what's up? (and if you don't, see my earlier post...)

It's GSB final week.

Guess what it reminds me of... none other than Hong Kong! There are shocking parallels here: both count for a substantial percentage of your final grade, both places administer difficult or impossible exams, both exams are designed to humble me, both succeed, both make me depressed... and both don't matter in the future.

One glaring difference: GSB has a curve and grade non-disclosure. I'm so glad those are the differences. At least I feel like I learned a lot of useful things... though the exams have certainly not reinforced that idea.

oh man oh man

Per usual, Picasa and Blogger don't work THAT well together. Two lost paragraphs. Oh well.

Finals are up. Monday Operations, Tuesday Accounting, Wednesday Regression, Thursday Microeconomics. Good times, as witnessed with this picture from our student film festival, are long gone.

Speaking of which, next quarter I should be tentatively taking: Tuesday Managing the Workplace, Wednesday Marketing Strategy, Thursday Competitive Strategy.

Score card

1. Applications to most, if not all, consulting firms - Nada
2. Beijing Trek - Some
3. Microeconomics cheat sheet for studying - Nada
4. Accounting cheat sheet for finals - Nada
5. Rest - Plenty

Well... I'd say I had a really good Thanksgiving.

Outlet shopping!

You know it's gonna be interesting when you wake up at 5 am for shopping. Thanksgiving morning, baby, it's all going crazy.

Fact 1: Be patient. After parking cars in Boston for years, I think I have that.
Fact 2: Be efficient. Business school student. HELLO!?
Fact 3: Avoid lines. I'm a guy, I don't need COACH that badly.
Fact 4: Be early. 5 am was early enough.

Giorgio Armani: guess who is inside? ASIANS! All of them. There were (I counted) 5 white people and one black person. Yup, the sales people! And you know what? Half the Asians were hauling their crying/whining babies and kids around. The other half? Zits! Kids with zits!

Ahhhh...!

I had a game plan with what to buy, and I followed my game plan. Everything done by 10 am. Got my shoes, my socks, my sweater, and my towel. Problem is... my shopping companions were only half done. So I ate and I ate and I ate... in liue of Thanksgiving Dinner, I had Outlet Mall Food Court.

Weird Dream

This morning, I had a really weird dream with a lot of old friends from Hong Kong showing up at a restaurant. We were having a discussion on marriage and relationships. A girl (good friend of mine, who shall not be named) was speaking in desperation. Suddenly, the entire restaurant fell completely silent. In the dream, it was a very odd moment when everything went quiet. We looked at each other across the tables but nobody spoke.

Suddenly, I hear my phone ring in real life. I wake up and go answer it.

Isn't that weird? It was as if the ears heard the ring, told the brain to "shut the dream up," and then the brain let my ears function with the brain! Wait, does that even make sense? So odd. The human mind still works in mysterious ways!

Finally, a break!

Damn, it's been pretty much non-stop since August... here's what I've planned for this break:
1. Applications to most, if not all, consulting firms
2. Beijing Trek
3. Microeconomics cheat sheet for studying
4. Accounting cheat sheet for finals
5. Rest

In that order, sadly. There will be a recap next week.

Snacks

For those of you who know me, you know my snack consumption patterns. For those of you who don't, here it is: I don't buy snacks and I don't buy soda. The reason is that if I buy it, I'll consume it in less than the intended time. Result: very unhealthy.

Okay, so why am I telling you this? Because yesterday, in a panic response to my increasing work load, I bought junk food to keep me company through my late night work:
Ritz Bits Peanut Butter
Lays BBQ Chips
Ridge Ruffles Sour Cream
Chips Ahoy Chuncky

I finished Lays BBQ Chips in one night. You see what business school does to you!?

Operations

Standing in line has a whole new meaning now. I was waiting for pizza at a school event and I couldn't help but think that this line creates valuable loss time for a lot of students. Furthermore, it was such a simple operations problem that could be solved by re-arranging the tables into two rows (two servers), thereby increasing the throughput and decreasing cycle time.

Please shoot me when you have a chance.

Following your heart

Time and again, I tell people to follow where their heart takes them. Everything will work out if you follow your heart. I still think it's true...

Except that time and again, I don't do it. I do something that I really don't want to do but did anyway due to various reasons (give face, peer pressure, premature promise, etc), and then suffer from it. Inevitably, I think back on why I suffered (well, it's not that bad... or pretty bad... anything from paying an extra $20 to failing a midterm to damaging a friendship) and I conclude that I should have followed my heart.

So... the next time I don't follow my heart and I suffer, I will detail the step-by-step process.

Sleep and Work

What is it about sleep and work?

Last night, I came back to home feeling absolutley exhausted. I had a few emails that I need to send out. I had a virtual factory to look after. I had a meeting to prepare for. I had this. I had that. Well... I chose to sleep. At about 11pm, I believe, I fell asleep on my sofa. I had a few chances where I woke up, contemplated about working, and decided otherwise. At 1am, I woke, walked past my desk (two MSN messages flashing), and went to my bed.

Only to wake up in extreme guilt this morning... then I started doing work. Emails. Done. Factory. Done. Meeting. Screw the meeting. This. Done. That. Done.

How ironic is it that I slept to escape work, only to wake in guilt to finish work? I tell you, business school does weird things to the human mind.

I am frustrated...

I am frustrated that each day proceeds without much purpose. I am frustrated that I am working hard but not working efficiently. I am frustrated that I am barely surviving school when I should be breezing through some subjects. I am frustrated that I am not learning as much as I want to at school. I am frustrated that there are only 24 hours in a day. 7 days in a week. I am frustrated that there are so many things I want to do that I cannot dedicate all my time to. I am frustrated that I am distracted easily. I am frustrated that I have time management problems. I am frustrated. I am frustrated.

On the bright side, I am apparently mastering the i-message from LEAD. I am not frustrated.

Butterfly and B-school

This is a picture I took in Belize...

Anyway, midterms are over. Back to presentations and group studies. I feel like the butterfly I saw in Belize. Always on the run, never stopping at one flower. Maybe even a little lost. What does a butterfly do? It smells and chases food? Is that it? Why this flower? Why every flower?

So far, I've had dinners/cocktails with Bain, BCG, Booz Allen, and McKinsey. Why every flower indeed.

I wish

Belize, good times.

My first mid term in N years, not good times.

I wish we were still in Belize!

Oh Flowers

While skeptical about long distance orders of flowers... I think this one turned out pretty well!

Red and White

So, let's settle this once and for all. I AM A RED SOX FAN. PLEASE, no more White Sox questions Oh, you want proof? Here:

Game 1, World Series, White Sox vs Astros. I was at a bar with some GSBers. Here's what I did: I glanced at the TV when someone in the bar cheered. I watched the last two innings. And I ate a boat load of wings.

As I recall from last year, I never took my eyes off the TV for the Red Sox-Yankees series (Had to mention it, I feel good just thinking about it) and the World Series. No way.

Well, I'd like the White Sox to win, so my karma can continue. But that's where the puck stops. It's been a year since Red Sox won the World Championship. A YEAR!

Clarification on Free Beer

A third person asked me why I put the GSB's picture with a title of free beer. Here goes the story: on one fine afternoon, I sat in the Winter Garden doing homework for operations. And then I was offered some beer. AND I SAID NO THANKS! What has business school done to me!?Luckily...

After coming to my senses, I took the beer and continued on homework. Let me just say that operations homework became easier after the beer!

B-school

Man, this is getting ridiculous. I've got so much work lined up! Five classes, one project. Too bad can't really turn back time, so it's suck it up and grind it out. Recruiting season started and everybody is getting nervous. Perhaps I should be too!

Free Beer

 

Life Events

I sit in the car, and tears are coming to my eyes
I am driving alone on a quiet highway
I start the car
I get resume reviews from a classmate
We leave the restaurant
I say "Well, on the bright side, I did finish my homework today"
Someone tells the story of acquaintances catching planes of doom
Someone tells the story of acquaintances missing planes of doom
Someone tells the story of surviving the Asian Tsunami ordeal
Someone tells the story of going to work and therefore not surviving 911
Someone tells the story of missing work and therefore surviving 911
Wow
Someone tells the story of fleeing the World Trade Center
Someone tells the story of seeing people leap from the World Trade Center
We agree that 911 was one of the strangest days in our lives
Someone tells the story of selling a dot com business the day before 911
Someone tells the story of loosing a lot of money... by lack of luck
Someone tells the story of making a huge profit just in time... by luck
Someone tells the story of choosing the wrong telecommunication stock
Someone tells the story of losing $8K on a telecommunication stock
Someone tells the story of reading a "How to play Options" book and costing him big time
Food is finished
I do not tell my most traumatic life experience
I say my most traumatic life experience must be around 12
Someone says the most traumatic life experience happened between 28 and 30
Someone says the most traumatic life experience happened around early 30s
Food comes
Someone tells the story of living off credit cards because of debt
Someone tells the story of gambling on margins and losing his life savings
Someone tells the story of gambling on margins and losing $25K
Someone says that when recruiting season dies down, we will all become day traders
Someone says scandals will be prevalent by the end of the winter quarter.
More scandal stories. In all business schools.
Someone tells the story of relationship scandals in school. Gets everybody's attention.
We sit down at the table and make small talk.
I arrive at the restaurant..

Picture of Belize from the airplane! 

Belize, Pissed, and Red Sox

Here's one picture from Belize. More willcome to my website if I:
1. Learn how to update my flash website
2. Get other pictures from my Belize buddies

Oh... I'm still pissed at Chicago in general. But looking on the bright side, the tow place was close to my home and very clean. I remember Boston tow places located in dangerous dumps with no maintenance whatsoever. I think the idea was that hopefully you will need a realignment by the time you retrieve your car.

Red Sox lost... went down in flames, really. it was a decent year to enjoy. A team that never was the same as last year, both in terms of character and ability.

Waterfalls (2 of Five Sisters) at Belize Resort

Murphy's Law

It all started with dinner at 930. I signed up for a U of C dinner party thing for $20. And then they served us with some take out Italian food. Anyway... the party was okay and I did meet some people. But $20!?

$10 cover charge for a bar!? I paid and stayed for 10 minutes. After a rum and coke, I was on the way out.

Drove to another bar. Parked. Had a beer. Back to my car. It's FREAKING gone! Towed.

$160 parking ticket.

$50 ticket.

I think I hate Chicago now.

Alan's Brithday

He'd be 24 now...

And I look forward to all the good and bad moments today. I'm so busy with business school these days. Funny how I can always find time to grief, but I can't find time to have fun. Isn't that one of the biggest ironies in life? We spend our lives seeking meaning and happiness, yet what our natural instincts focus only on sad events - the brain thinks (knows?) that that is the most important.

On ESPN, the program ran a special on a kid - a Notre Dame fan - who was dying from a brain tumor. The mother said she felt "so selfish for wanting him to live" because he "wanted to be with the angels." Perhaps one day I will reach that stage.

National Day!?

Well, what do you know... it's October 1st and nobody made a fuss in Chicago. National Day, baby! I almost didn't notice that it was October already!

My First Week at the GSB

Wow, I've been warned many times... this is what transpired in my first week of classes:

Thursday: wake at 6, school at 8, microeconomics class at 830, lunch at 1130, home at 430, failed package pick-up at 6, furniture pick-up at 630, dinner at 730, TNDC (Thursday Night Drinking Club) at 1000...

Friday: sleep at 1, wake at 8, package pick-up at 11, haircut at 12, school at 1, regression class at 130, LPF (Liquidity Preference Function) at 430, Regents Park at 7, killer card game at 930...

Saturday: wake at 8, school at 9, club presentations at 930, home at 3, TV fixed at 5, dinner in Chinatown at 730, Regents Park at 9, poker game at 10...

Sunday: second place in poker game at 230, home at 3, sleep at 330, wake at 11, football/baseball/homework/reading at 12, success with baseball and football... not much with the rest. Sleep at 11.

Monday: wake at 6, school at 8, operations class at 830, lunch at 12, regression homework at 1, accounting assignment at 3, study group for regression at 430, dinner at 8, home at 9, accounting assignment at 930, resume update at 11, application for BSG (Business Solution Group) at 12...

Tuesday: sleep at 1, wake at 6, school at 8, accounting class at 830, lunch at 12, LEAD assignment at 1, LEAD class at 130, resume update and application for BSG at 430, pub with LEAD classmates at 530, home at 730, microeconomics homework at 830, operations homework at 10...

Wednesday: sleep at 130, wake at 830, school at 10, study group for operations at 10, lunch at 12, study group for operations at 1230, study group for microeconomics at 300, home at 7, dinner at 830, study group for microeconomics at 1000...

Thursday: sleep at 1. And here ends my first week... way too much stuff going on with way too little time!

Almost over...

My first official week at the GSB is almost over. I will recap my week end of tonight... not looking good, that's all I can say!

Mid Autumn Festival Gathering

Well, after multiple bidding rounds, I got what I wanted. Well, almost. And hey, if you want some action: Monday morning Operations, Tuesday morning Accounting, Wednesday off, Thursday morning Microeconomics, and Friday afternoon Regression. Having some butterflies for my first class in... oh, I don't know, five years?

Better late than never...

Help Katrina victims here. So sad to see New Orleans in its current state. Kaleen and I had a lot of fun at the Big Easy. Maybe a bit too much fun. It's a fun city with the best live music you can find in the US.

Hurricane, ironically New Orleans' most famous drink

The Road to...

Railroad to Lhasa
This picture sort of reflects my sentiments for school right now: long, continuous, and an existing destination that I have yet to see. Today is the second to last day in orientation and school will start in a couple of days. I'm pretty sure the rails aren't going to be straight for me, but at least I can aspire for such a road and make it happen.

BID it!

Today at orientation, we all learnt about the UCBS, or Unnecessarily Complicated Bidding System. In a few days, I'll see if my understanding of the system works for my desired schedules and classes. I'm struggling a bit between 3 and 4 classes, but 4 seems to be the way since I (probably) don't have to worry about recruiting in the Fall quarter.

Anyway, still struggling with this bidding system.

Wedding Crasher...

Man, I've never laughed so hard in my life... okay, rephrase: I've haven't laughed so hard in my life for a long long time! Excellent movie except for the last 10 to 20 minutes when they ran out of jokes and made it a chick flick. But that's okay. Hilarious movie.

The theaters were showing Crash (Movie that explores racism) again. I love that movie. Absolutely positively love it. Go see it.

Off to White Sox game now. Yup, that's right: baseball games are part of orientation!

Back in Chicago

Just returned from a three day trip to Geneva Lake, Wisconsin for GSB's orientation. Fun trip, highlighted by a high ropes course and more alcohol consumption. There were a couple of team building activities as well, which I thought were extremely useful. Definitely worth another try. Let see, what did I learn: loud hot heads can still be a benefit.

Anyway, it's nice to be back in Chicago.

500am

It's 5:30 am and I've already showered and ready to leave home. Well, it's only natural to ask "WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU UP SO EARLY!?" I ask myself too. There's a business school outdoor leadership thingy in Wisconsin that requires us to be at school by 6:00 am and then be bus-ed over to the Wisconsin. Argggggg.

2 in 1

Well... I tried to post yesterday and didn't realize I didn't publish it. Here goes again.

Dry!

Yay, I stayed dry for two days. Hm, let me see, what was the difference...? No hanging out with business school students! haha.

On home improvement, I got myself a kitchen rolling cart for my rediculous cabinet-poor kitchen. I think I've also found my coffee table/foot rest from Jennifer Convertibles. No bookcase and media rack yet. No sofa either.

The Streak

Chicago is obviously treating me "well"... last night (Thursday) was my 13th consecutive drinking day/night. At this rate, I'll become an alcoholic before school even starts (Sept 26). I'm also going to be downing 40 shots a night (every week, I've added 2 drinks to my night) by the end of the quarter (10 weeks). Ah, the life of a business school student!

Not sure how long this is going to last. Some students already know about my "streak" and there's peer pressure that's mounting. You got to think, however, that it's got to end somehow! I was hungover at accounting class (and late) today. By the way, accounting is still boring even if you have the best instructor.

Accounting class will be over today. Orientation starts next week. Good times.

First class finally...

Not that I'm particularly looking forward to them, but it was nice to finally get a class under my belt. Harsh reality check though, as I had to wake up at 630am and take the train to school. So far so good... accounting maybe boring, but it's quite the necessary evil. I think I now have A = L + SE down and the credit debit situation. What I really don't get is the naming of line items... it seems like people just make them up. The flexibility of the so-called definitions are worrisome as well... but hey, without those flexibilities (and the evil corporate world that took advantage), I wouldn't have had such a nice job at the Analysis Group!

Back from Belize

Good week of vacation in Belize. Now waiting on accounting class on Monday. How fast things can go in a downward spiral!

The Belize trip included visits to Mayan ruins, cave tubing, wind surfing, and snorkeling. Loads of fun, plus I met some great people down there. Pictures will be on later with full descriptions at www.josekin.com - which now has a new starting page that is subject to change!

I think I learnt more about U of Chicago and its people on this trip more than I ever did from the few trips I made down there. While not exactly looking forward to school, the chance of meeting 500 plus awesome individuals and learn from them (and hopefully them from me as well) is exciting. Tomorrow will be the first day in years when I am required to be at some place at some time for a class. Let's hope I survive.

Morning Viewing

Waiting for the RCN guy to come to my apartment to give me modern life (TV and internet, that is), I popped in the Red Sox World Series DVD. Ah, the joy of watching this over and over again and imagine that we (we as in the Boston Red Sox and yours truly) won over and over again. I would especially like to point to Kevin Millar in the pre-game sounds when he warned the Yankees about the importance of Game 4. In retrospect, Millaaaaah was quite the genius!

Oh, and the link points to my next possible DVD purchase: 35 hours of Red Sox material in 12 DVDs. Maybe, just MAYBE, I can watch them all in one go. Hopefully with Matt Volinsky, whose up and down in the office was a clear indication of how the Red Sox were doing.

Oh, the picture

It's a really cool picture. At first sight, I was thinking of Absolut Vodka ads. Then I thought about aliens arriving on Earth. I think my mom put it the best: seems like a lighted match/flame!

Picture taken by Ricky in NamTso

Not only have I almost moved into my new appartment, I also had time to do a little furniture shopping! I rearranged some furniture to (almost) complete my bedroom. Now all I need to do is do the living room.

Bed! Table! TV!

I can't stress how happy I am with all my stuff arriving today. Finally I can sleep on a bed.

I woke up at 9 to go talk to my neighbor about using the elevator. She has reserved it for the entire morning (9 to 12) for her moving out. My movers (yes, they are mine) told me that they would arrive around 11. So I needed to see if they would be finished by then and, if not, whether we can share the elevator since we're going in two different directions.

Anyway, no trouble at all. Moving out was done by 11 and my movers arrived at 12. All is now in the apartment. I spent the next few hours unpacking clothes and small stuff. Tonight I will try to get my entertainment system going. I also need to assemble the bed. I don't know what to do with my books. Probably will make a book case using bricks and wood later on. They really are last on my mind. Okay, I'm rambling... BED! YES!

Review on Time Traveler's Wife

I finally finished the book. It was rather long and not the most straight-forward reading. Anyway, I got the book from Kaleen right before I left for the airport. The girl sitting next to me on the plane was reading the exact same book. Except that she was on p318, and me on p1. She said it's a good book.

Now this is a completely guy thing to do, but I noticed the love story insofar as the logic of the events. Not to spoil the book for you, but when the writing is about time traveling, you wonder if the author worked out all the kink of time traveling. A great love story, yes. A great set up, stronger yes. I wonder if the story will unfurl as it is had our hero not been able to time travel. Did he make things happen? I keep scrutinizing the story up till the end so it wasn't much fun for me. Perhaps you should keep an open mind.

Anyway, deterministic world or free will? I've always been the proponent of determinism. Science rules all.

In town...!

Finally, I seem to have started my next phase of life! The flight from Hong Kong was uneventful unless you count the fact that the girl sitting next to me was reading the same book I'm reading! Time Traveler's Wife. Book review coming soon.

In other news, I found my new Chicago bank, which was acquired by my old Boston bank. So I don't have to do anything. All account info the same. Even got cash from the teller: I've lost my ATM as well as my cash envelope (probably still in Hong Kong). I found internet, cable TV, and phone through RCN. I found electricity.

My two problems: One, I was under the impression that movers would arrive on Aug 10. Turns out it would be Aug 20! After some bitter arguments, it became Aug 15. Internet will "arrive" Aug 15 as well. Two, I need an adaptor for my phone charger. It's on its last leg right now and that is not good.

One more minor problem: Cingular SIM card is temperamental.

Otherwise, life is good. I hope I can last a couple more days in Chicago in an empty home!

Website operational!

Yay! www.josekin.com
It's really hard work to start something like this, at least for me... I wonder how well I will be maintaining this in the future. My next trip will be Belize and I am already looking forward to adding a new section!

Well well well... finally!

Let's see... couple of finalys today:
1. I finally got around to finish pre-LEAD online assignments for the University of Chicago.
2. I finally cashed all my traveler's checks.
3. I finally registered and paid for my own website!

You could say that 3 is the only one that matters. YAY! Now I have to put information onto it... as well as suffer through the learning process of making a website. As for the domain name, I will let you know soon!