My weeks...

So, I looked back to my last 6 weekends here, and I noticed a pattern. I had been traveling quite a bit on every other week. Why? I don't really know. Probably I need a break from a break.

Say, 1st weekend: Went down to Delaware to visit my cousin and her family.
2nd weekend, Boston
3rd weekend, didn't go anywhere...
4th weekend, Mohegan Sun
5th weekend, NYC
6th weekend, didn't go anywhere...

So, yeah, I didn't go anywhere last weekend, but, I did spend most of my Saturday reading HP 7. I think it was an OK book, the last 200 pages were just like a breeze. I think if I were to read another time, I will think JK Rowling is trying to put some 'politics' into the book. But, don't think I want to read so deep into it yet. After all, it's a book for young readers.

So, I think my previous posts had too much about work-related stuff, so, I guess I'm a sane workaholic after all, and my bring work home and thinking about work-related stuff is driving my friend nuts, so, for my sanity, and his, I should have more fun instead.

So, speaking about fun, I'll be going to Truro, MA. Truro link, is at the tip of Cape Cod, so, it's a famous summer spot for beach fun. Also, I'll be going to Provincetown for a whale watching trip. So, it's gonna be fun in the sun. Gonna get some 'color' too. Also, lighthouse!!!...

"With 2,551 housing units but only 907 resident households, a majority of Truro's residences are summer vacation properties. Most of these sit vacant for most of the year, and the town's population swells enormously between Memorial Day and Labor Day."

So... i think i need some pictures for my post, so, i think the best i can come up with are pictures below:

My latest thang... blueberries and cranberries... "I smell blueberries!!!"

Also, there's the haddock dinner set, which this picture didn't do the meal justice... and the best thing of all, it costs $3.99.

alright, that's about it... will try to update this before heading to Truro, MA this weekend...

New York City revisited...

So, last Friday, I went to work early, started work at 7am, and had my lunch at my desk, hence, I left office at 3.30pm. After I checked that I had everything packed, I left my sublet and started walking to the Worcester Union Station at 4.30pm. It took me about 30 minutes to walk there. And it was quite a scary walk, as Worcester is not an ideal town to travel around by foot.

It cost $7.75 to travel from Worcester to South Station, Boston (the last station) and the journey took about 90 minutes. I left the Worcester station at 5.38pm, and reached Boston just after 7pm. The bus station is connected to the train station, and I was there waiting for my bus in no time. There's a huge line waiting for the bus to Boston, (the greyhound bus system works in a way that they will just sell ticket without controlling how many they sold, and it's passengers' responsibility to wait for their bus early on to make sure that they get on the bus they wish, if the bus is oversold, they will have to wait for the next bus. I thought they got really oversold, but apparently, 2 buses was delayed because of an accident en route to NY or something like that. I boarded the bus at 9pm, instead of 8pm that I wanted. While waiting in line, a guy tried to cut the queue, into a position 3 people in front of me, and the guy in front of me called him out, and they had an exchange of words, and that guy insisted that he was waiting in line for awhile, but he 'forgot' to move in front... a lady (and all of us) didn't buy it, but we tolerated for awhile. And then, a cop walked by, and the lady told the cop about the incident, and that dude was thrown to the back of the line. :)

So, I reached Times Square (42nd St) of New York city at about 1.15am. Met up with Teck Hua at about 1.20am. Then, we went to Astor Place for Japanese food, and from there, walked to his place(where I crashed at for the next 2 nights), reaching at about 3.00am.

The next morning, I woke up at 9am, thanks to my body clock, (6 hours of sleep), and I spent the next 2 hours watching 'The Soup!' and ESPN. Then, Teck Hua, woke up at about 11am, and, we left for Chinatown at about noon. We walked around, and damn, it's like Kuala Lumpur's Petaling St. "Miss, handbag? Gucci, Fendi, Coach?" "DVD!" "Perfume?!" All the road-peddlers with counterfeit items... And the place was packed!
Summer Fair!
So, we walked around, and discovered the NYC Summer Fair (every third Saturday of July), where there's lotsa food stalls, and other handicrafts and stuff on sale on the street.


For lunch, Teck Hua and I met up with Melissa and May Ying, we were at Canal St. (Chinatown) earlier, and was walking while waiting for them to come. Waiting.. waiting... waiting...Waiting to meet up with us, and I took this picture from across the street. :P

So, for lunch, we went to 'Nyonya', a Malaysian restaurant in Little Italy. The food was great, more authentic than Penang's (the restaurant chain) and more reasonably priced.
There's also a fair going on in Little Italy.
And yes, I took this shot in New York City. There's a park where a lot of senior citizens, 90+ % Asian, hang out... We walked by this park, after lunch, from Chinatown towards Wall St.
Snapping some pictures along the way... This is the NY Court House.
And that's LAI(me)!!!
Reaching Wall St. (smiling ear-to-ear from L-R: May Ying, Teck Hua and Melissa)
Us (Melissa, I and May Ying) in front of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Well, as a tourist in Wall St., one thing that you must do is to take photo with the Golden Bull. As I previously took one, and there's a huge crowd in front of it this time, I didn't take one with the big bull. There are actually 2 smaller bulls (one bronze and another silver) near Merrill Lynch's HQ. As it is still a hidden secret, nobody was there, and we took full advantage of the photo opportunities.
The four of us in front of Merrill Lynch's HQ. (not really in front of, but the HQ as background).
While the smaller bull is easy to be mounted by some. It still proves to be a challenge for others, like kids...

and Melissa. :P
She did manage to get on it, but, I decided not to put it up here. :)
Teck Hua and I.
And also, the bull was touched.
Not to mention, the weather was great. Sunny weather, about 30 Celcius hot!
Not sure why this picture turned out like that.
'Putera lilin'...

So, we went to this Peruvian restaurant, Pio Pio for dinner. The chicken was amazing, and the price, was very very reasonable. Thanks to my cousin's husband (is there a genealogical term for it?), Tomas for recommending this place. With dinner (and Sangria) including tips, it only cost us
$13 per person. For dinner, we met up with Sui Lin, and Jon San, and also, Teck Hua's roommate, Crispin.

Before....
After:
(just kidding... pidgeons -//-> chicken... just like you can't turn coal into gold.)
Fried plantains, and rice + beans. And also the amazingly good green sauce (to go with the roasted chicken).
After dinner, we went to TimesSquare's AMC to catch a movie. We saw I know pronounced you Chuck and Larry. It was a really funny movie, and kinda a movie that increase LGBT awareness in a backhanded way.TimesSquare in the evening...
After the movie, taking subway to a lounge. (May Ying, Sui Lin and Mel... exhausted...)
At the lounge, a really cool place (it was much darker, but with the flash, this is the end result).
From L-R, Jon San, me, Teck Hua, May Ying, Melisssa, Sui Lin, and Crispin...

So, that's pretty much my short trip to New York city. After this, we parted ways, and Crispin cooked us really good mee goreng...

So, it was all good. The next morning, woke up at 9.06am (I checked my watched), again, 6 hours of sleep, but seeing it was still early, I went back to bed, woke up at 10.35am, and packed and all, and left Teck Hua's place at 11.30am for the NY Port Authority to catch my 12.30pm bus back to Boston. Reached Boston at 5.00pm, and had a McD dinner, and caught the 6pm train back to Worcester, reaching at 7.40pm, and took a scarier walk back to my sublet, reaching at 8.10pm. It was still bright out, but, it was really scary. I think I will not walk along in Worcester downtown anymore. The conversation I overheard on my walk back from the station to my sublet, and also the broken glasses on the walkway are really scary.

A lot to read and a lot to think about...

So, I've been flooded with a lot of reading. Really a lot. That's like 100+ pages of stuff to read through and that's not including the papers recommended by my manager. That's that, but what's been on my mind since the 1-on-1 with my manager was what I really want to do. That's really a lot to think about.

It had been easy for me to pick a major when I first got into college because, I did know what my interest was and all. But now, to narrow it down even more is a much tougher decision because of lack of knowledge about the work on my part. Well, so far, this internship has taught me a lot. But, the problem is I've only been exposed to one side of the industry, and my decision will not be a truly informed one. But, my manager gave me a better proposition. He will set me up to talk with other actuaries, even the chief actuary to gain more insights about the job and all, and hopefully, will help me to make a better decision.

And yes, that's what been troubling me lately.

And yesterday, I went to a minor league baseball game with my colleagues. It was the company's Summer employee appreciation event. Even though the team was kinda bad, making silly errors and all, we had fun.
Yes, I needed a haircut. And I got one today.
From L to R: Katie, Eric, Angelina, me and Khai. The same bunch that went to the drive-in theater. :)

So, it was a pretty good outing.

Tomorrow, right after work, I'll rush back to my sublet, grab my bag, and then catch a train to Boston, and from Boston, take a bus to New York city for the weekend!!! So, hopefully, I'll get some good pictures from the trip and I'll post it up here next week. Or maybe on Sunday, since I'll be reaching my sublet on Sunday evening.

4 weeks gone by...

So, I'm about half way through my nine-week internship. I think last week was probably the most I've learned about insurance, and also Access. So, it's all good. Previously, I had serious doubt whether I want to be in the insurance field, or the actuarial consulting profession in the future. I think it's really a good time to start to think about this because I'll have to make this decision soon, very soon. But, one thing I learned from my internship so far is that I haven't rule out working in the property & casualty (P&C) insurance, as I have already ruled out life insurance.

One 'problem' with me is I'm a workaholic, really. So, my biggest requirement of a job will be one that constantly challenges me. Probably because I'm still single and there's not much other stuff for me to do? So, I'm a person who will be delighted to have work waiting for me, and also, to be able to help out. For that reason, if I were to work in the insurance field, P&C is more the thing for me because there's a lot more opportunities to work as it is a rather new field as compared to the life insurance work.

Alright enough of those work-related thoughts. So, yesterday, I went to Mohegan Sun Casino to explore. It was a short drive, just above an hour (approximately 65 miles) South West of Worcester, in the state of Connecticut. So, I left from my sublet at about 1pm, after gym in the morning, and a quick lunch. The directions was really easy to follow and I was there by 2.05pm.

The Mohegan Sun Casino is my second casino I've been to. The first being Genting Casino. I wouldn't say that Mohegan Sun is better or worse, but it's smaller for sure. Also, as a Math major, I know my odds, so, I had limited myself to $50 of betting/slots. Well, it's about Gambler's Ruin theory, which, eventually, regardless how much money one puts in, unless he has more money than the Casino, he will lose all his money. And the expected time of when a gambler will stop is when he loses all his money. So, it's kind of a bummer for me to know about all this stuff, and take the fun out of gambling. :) But, also, as an Econ major, I also know that people are risk loving when the wager is small, hence lottery and all. So, I decided to play slots to kill time. 1 cent slots mostly.

One thing I like about the casino is it has non-smoking section in both parts of the casino (Casino of the Earth & Casino of the Sky). So, I bummed around for about 4 hours, and invested $40. (I was up $3 at one moment and my largest payout was 1250 credits, that is $12.50). It was all fun. Also, I wanted to try the buffet as it was highly recommended, but, the queue for both of the buffets were too long. So, I decided to drive back to Worcester, and cooked. Well, I bought fried haddock and it was really good. Also, I grabbed a six pack of Stella Artois to celebrate the passing of exams. :P It's been awhile since I had a beer. The last time I binged was the night after the actuarial exam, May 17, so about 2 months ago.

So, that's about it. Today, woke up with a slightest hint of hungover, really the slightest. It was all good after an extra hour of napping.

Next week, I'm going to NYC, I think. Then, the following weekend, will go to this EcoTarium nearby. Then, the following weekend, to Cape Cod, and then one more weekend to fill (Boston again?), and the following week, will be driving to Richmond, VA to visit my cousin, and next, back to Ann Arbor.

Good news!!!

So, 33724 & 33725... Great news!!! Have fun figuring what are so great about that 2 numbers. I'll let you know soon.

So, work had been picking up, and guess what? I'm liking it! I'm now sure than ever that I'm a workaholic. Really. I got excited with work sitting on my table, waiting for me to work on them. Even more so if I get emails from my manager asking me to work on something and me being able to get those answers quickly and then, resulting a chain of emails and all. It's really good to know that I'm working on something useful, and I'm contributing, that my work is valued, and it's somehow affecting something, somewhere and some-time. The sense of being valued, the sense of accomplishment, the sense of satisfaction are really amazing.

But, all these are not amount to what I'm taking away from my work. The actuarial training - learning about the insurance industry - that i am getting, twice a week, 1-2 hours per session, is really helping me a lot in understanding how insurance work and all.

And, to top it up, a group of about 40 of us (new hire) were fortunate enough to had a assimilation breakfast session with our CEO. He is a really good speaker, and I'm moved... so moved by his speech. And, he even mentioned actuaries being important to the company, and being an actuarial intern, of course I was happy to hear those words...

So, what are the good news? I passed my actuarial exams. MLC and MFE. So, gonna start studying for C i guess. Well, life of an actuarial student...

Product Placement...

So, I went to watch Transformers this afternoon. After a really long wait, since I saw the movie trailer last summer, I think July 2006. The very first teaser, where it virtually revealed nothing from the plot, but the Mars rover 13 second view. Then, earlier this year, another trailer showed more scenes from the movies, which was mind-blowing robot-to-robot action, great effects, great CGI. AWESOME.

Also, it was weird to have an 'all-American' movie to be premiered elsewhere a week earlier than in the states. I mean, it's not fair for my brother to watch it twice in Malaysia, before I have the chance to watch it this afternoon. But well, I think it's because they want to cash in internationally, before the pirates can cash away some of their revenue. It's all about the money.

So, I went to look for this cinema, I set off 40 minutes before the show time, giving myself a good 20 minutes pocket (for getting lost, and well, traffic, or queue for tickets). I overshot like a mile or two, when I finally found the turn, I was led, by google map, to go through a hill, and through 2 residential streets, through a rocky trail, and a factory block, before reaching the Showcase Cinema North Worcester. I was really surprised how Google Map manage to find such a route for me.

So, I enjoyed the movie a lot. But, the product placements in the movie is really, too much. The cars are just too American. And on top of that, placement is not enough. They reinforced a brand by mentioning it, and saying its origin. Yes, I know Nokia is Finnish. So, that's my only complain about the movie. I think the graphics are amazing, especially the way they transform and all. I'm not going to question the plot, and logic of the movie because, it's a sci-fi movie, and it's gonna make it much longer if they were gonna make everything logical. So, give sci-fi movie a break if you think they need more connections and bridge everywhere. Go back and watch it again, and try to save some room for your own imagination. :P

Surprisingly, the cinema was really empty, it was less than 10% filled. Maybe is the location of the cinema? I like it. No need to queue that long for tix for a new(6th day showing) and biggest summer blockbuster (so far). And it's only $7.25 (before 6pm).

But, I think I'll go for another cinema theater next time. It has more stores and all beside the cinema complex, so, I can have a nice meal and shop for stuff before and after the movie.

Also, the first trailer during the show this afternoon was rather cool too. It's still an untitled project, where the trailer showed "blurry camera seeing destruction wreaked on New York City, with the Woolworth Building blowing up and the severed head of the Statue of Liberty falling onto the streets" link (provided by IMDB). And it's directed by JJ Abrams. So, shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully.

So, what's my next movie, I don't know. Adam Sandler's new comedy, don't think so, I'm too cheap for comedy :P. Evening? By the same author who wrote The Hour? Don't think so too. And thanks Tremayne for that amazing movie. Harry Potter? Maybe, maybe not. Any recommendations?

Snap snap...

So, I bought a new camera from Circuit City on Thursday, after work+gym. As I did price research online, I found that it's 276.99 for the Panasonic FZ8- black. It's a superzoom camera (12X optical), and it's loaded with functions and all. I was thinking about getting a dSLR, but, I don't think I have the time and money to invest in a dSLR and lenses.

One thing I found out about Circuit City is that, always check the price online, as they are kinda 'shady' in the pricing. This was because the price tag of the camera at the branch showed $329.99. If I were to buy it without knowing the online price, that would be the price I pay. That's not really good practice. That's about 20 percent price differential.

As I didn't have time to really fiddle with my camera yesterday, it was late when I got back from the gym, and the weather wasn't that good, I decided to do it all today.

So, after working out this morning, I went to Elm Park, about 5 minutes drive from my sublet, to test drive my camera. And here are some of the pictures I took.

Don't ask me what kinda of birds they are though.. :P

Ducks!!! Yummy...
Show off...Izzit just me, or it looked like it's smiling?
who's the boss now..?
Clouds... always a good bet...
Squirrel or squir-rel?

Enjoy... :)

Happy 4th of July!!!

So, I got a day off today. What did I do? I managed to finish up a book, Fortune's Formula, kinda an interesting book for a Math/Econ geek I should say. Not too technical, but good enough with all the ideas and all.

Then, at about 9.50am, I left my sublet for Brandeis University. According to Google Map, it will take me about 50 minutes for the 42.3 miles journey. It took me probably about 45 minutes, and I didn't get lost at all. The traffic was surprisingly good, and wow, I was there to meet up with Sher Mern (after 1 and a half year), early, at about 10.35am.

Brandeis University is kinda small, but it's a pretty good location, I mean, less than 30 minutes from Downtown Boston, how bad could that be? I'm such a sucker at taking photographs, maybe next time. Or, maybe when I get a new camera, my passion for photography will be revived. I'll see. I've been eye-ing for a superzoom camera for quite some time now. Panasonic FZ8 looks like a pretty good deal to me. Might be getting it tomorrow actually. I'll see.

So, after that, his friend, Daniel picked us up to his church's 4th of July picnic + volleyball, on a field at MIT. It was fun. I got to meet with too many people with names that I couldn't remember now. (not really, but I probably met like 30+ people, if not more), and I think I can remember like maybe 15 of them. (thanks to daily training on BrainAge, my memory is getting better.) :)

So, after all that, we had dinner, and then, after some rest, Daniel took us back to Brandeis, and I drove back, in the rain to my sublet. The drive back was even easier, just I-90 all the way, and i'm back in Worcester in no time.

So, that's pretty much it. Even though I missed the live-telecast of Nathan's Hot Dog eating competition, well, I don't have a tv at my sublet, so, I would have missed it anyway, but, finding out that Kobayashi's loss wasn't that surprising, since his domination had been 6 years, and people were trying hard to knock him off.

So, happy independence day to all!!! And to my bro, happy birthday!!!

What a day of doing absolutely nothing

Yup, that title is absolutely right. But, well, I need my rest too. So, on Friday, we went out for a good lunch to celebrate Dave's birthday. We went to Ruby Tuesday, where I had a jumbo lump crab burger. Sweetness... After work, I went to gym for a quick run, but, after entering the locker room, I found out that I forgot my workout clothes, I did laundry, and forgot to put a set of new one in my gym bag, so, damn, I had to drive back to my sublet, to get a change of clothes.

As I had been going to the gym everyday since I started my internship last Monday, I never had to face the rush hour traffic before. It was pretty bad for traffic but not that bad for a rush hour traffic. Instead of the usual 12 minutes back, it took me about 30 minutes, which wasn't that bad I supposed.

So, it took me an hour to get back... I did an interval training, running the treadmill at various speed, running and sprinting intervals... So, after that and a short shower, I rushed back to my place to reheat my dinner, and fed the cats, check on the batteries (still doing fine), then, left my apartment at about 7pm, for my colleague, Katie's place at Rhode Island, about 40 miles away.

After getting on to Route 146, it was all good, the traffic was alright, and I was at her place about 45 minutes later, (fortunately, didn't get lost too badly)... So, after waited for 15 minutes for another colleague to come, we left in 2 cars for the drive-in on route 146, about 15 minutes away. It was an interesting experience, watching movies in an old-school drive-in theater. We saw Ocean 13 and Live Free or Die Hard, 2 movies, for $20 a car load. So, it was all good. To listen to the movie, we tuned in to a frequency. Actually, there were 3 screens going on at the same time, the other 2 showing, Rat-a-2-lee & Shrek 3, and Evan Almighty & something. The movies were pretty OK. Nothing great.

Can't wait to catch transformers though... Will only be out this Wednesday, 4th of July. Not sure if I'm gonna watch it on that day, but will definitely go catch it.

So, after the movie, it was about 1am, and I drove back, and reached my place at about 2.30am as there was construction and all going on, and I got lost following the detour, and it was dark, and I couldn't really navigate that well, I didn't even know the place.

So, the next morning, woke up feeling pretty good, went to the gym again for my TB (total body) workout. With SB(stability ball) and DB (dumb bells)... well, just felt like throwing in some jargons and all. So, after all that, went back to my place for lunch, and, after about 2pm, I set off for Boston, MA. It was about an hour drive, and I got lost again as usual, but after a phone call, I found Grace's place, and I met Ray finally. So, they brought me around Boston, tour-guided me and all. And they were so into photography, and I was the 'model' of the day, so, I'll put some up when I get them.
After all that, we had dinner at Chinatown, and the food was great. Lobster, clams, black-pepper pork, and salted-fish with chicken tofu claypot.

And after that, we went back to their apartment, chatted awhile more, and I went back to my place at about 9.30pm, reaching at about 10.20pm. And the batteries were dead!! I changed it to the backup batteries right away, and in the process of changing, there were some serious sparks, but it was alright. Also, I gave Ted a call to inform him about it, and charged the batteries up.

Woke up this morning, it was alright, and, I did totally nothing for the rest of the day, other than, online and chat, and that's about it...but, it's all good, I had 7 hours of sleep, + 2 hours of nap... which was great!

So, that's pretty much my 2nd weekend here. Wait, actually, I did some online research about probable trip, maybe a whale watching trip sometime when I go to Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod, MA.

Fingering...

Pretty cool... Pretty good 'fingering'... Kinda slow start, so, keep watching.

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