Boxes and Balls

How often do you talk about boxes/urns and balls? When, it's way too often for me.

So far, in two of my 4 classes, we talk about boxes and balls...

Anyway, it's been a really long while since I last updated my blog, so, I'm sacrificing my sleep, and hopefully, I won't be late for work tomorrow, to update my blog.

First off, here's a classic for those who missed it a month ago, and for those who watched it before, well, it's worth another watch.



So, more good news on the Michigan Wolverines football team. After the first two home losses, the Wolverines are doing pretty well, with 6 straight wins and is back in the rankings, even though that might not be a blessing since so many of the ranked teams are getting upset week in week out. So, Minnesota this week, and my friends and I have plans to dress-up for the game. I'll get some photo up, I promise.Also, 3 Saturdays ago, it was such a tiring day, as in the morning, I went to the football game against Eastern Michigan, which we won, and then, caught a football match at my friend's place, and then, went back to my apartment for a short nap, and then, in the evening, attended the Filarmonica della Scala performance at Hill Auditorium. It was their premiere performance in the States, and to say the very least, it was mind-blowing. It was really amazing, and the tenor, which I forgot his name was really spectacular too.


So, studying for the 4th exam had been going alright, even though time's pressing, but, I guess I'm studying 'smarter' now, with more understanding (at least trying to understand) and scheming through the materials, and skipping some impossible materials. Hopefully, by doing so, I'll have more time to spend on the practice exams, and then, trying to learn the impossible materials by reverse engineering.

Also, Manchester United had been doing really well lately. They are starting to score goals and it's always good to not be Liverpool - the 1 - 0 specialist.

I had been cooking less nowadays because of my busy schedule, and also, all the free food I got from the companies' information session. So, it's all good. But here are some of the pictures of my cooking.
Spicy tuna casserole topped with melted mozzarella cheese.
Pork chop...
Black pepper chicken
Braised chicken with mushroom.

Also, 2 weekends ago, we celebrated Hari Raya. Trying to be artsy here. That's a macro shot of the ice lemon tea I prepared for the Raya dinner. A huge cooler box of it (5 gallons).And I got this cooler from a raffle three years ago. It's still brand new though. I mean, how often do you need a huge cooler?

It was all fun and the food was great. Spicy! And the next day, many of us spent quite some time in the bathroom - not because of unhygienic reason, but, because of the pure spiciness of the food. Quoting Melissa: Ass on fire!

And did I mention the new jersey I bought. Mike Hart - 20!!!
I think I might get a helmet too. :) That will be a huge investment, because it's quite pricey. But well, it's the most recognized helmet in college football. The WINGED helmet. Maybe another jersey of Chad Henne - 7 too.

Also, currently, I'm postponing everything until after Nov. 5th. Everything here includes, talking about my job after college (even though it's lingering on my mind all the time, planning for the Christmas holiday, all other miscellaneous stuff...)

Just a random pic I took. Well, I had been drinking a lot of tea lately, 4-6 teabags a day on average. :)

So, here you go. Sorry, that I had been forgetting a lot of stuff I wanted to blog about. I'll try to have a recap post soon. And yeah, even though I did say soon, or promised a date that I will update my blog, it's really not dependable. :P

Fool me once...

It's painful to accept the fact that Michigan Wolverines are not good this year. Fool me once, shame of you; fool me twice, shame on me. How many losses can the fans take this year? How many non-conference home game losses can the fans take this year? Well, so far, 2 out of 2. Perfect losing record. I'm pretty sure the Michigan Wolverines are having a record-breaking year, breaking all the worst record you can keep track.The first 2 home games... the first 2 losses...

Losing is bad. But losing badly and not even giving back a fight is more than disheartening. It's embarrassing, humiliating, and just pure shame. The first loss, it's like having Manchester United, full squad, losing to a First Division team. The second loss, it's not longer an upset because Michigan Wolverines dropped out of the top-25 ranking after the first loss. It's comparable to be walloped 5 - 0 playing Manchester City. I mean, losing 39 - 7 at home. I tried to stay until the end of the game, but, I couldn't take it anymore after having to go through 2 weeks, back to back of such torture.

Enough of that.

So, last week was first week of class for me as a Senior, my final year as an undergraduate student. I'm do see myself taking things in an easier manner. More relax in handling things.
Am I becoming more mature? Maybe.
Are things going better? Yes.

I just think that I've been too hard on myself and on things in the past. I think this is a sign of me aging, not maturing. Whatever it is, I find that life's like that, and well, shits happen. Classes are good, and I find myself easier and enjoying classes more than ever. Maybe because knowing that the classes I'm taking are not required subconsciously make things better. Not that I don't like classes I took before, but, knowing that those classes are required to have some added pressure, I guess.

Work had been bad, especially the breakfast shifts. As the cafeteria is still way understaffed. I don't mind doing more work, but having to do more than 2 people's share is too much. I mean, have to be at 2 different posts physically is just impossible. Something needs to be done, to be done now.

Also, clubs' work have been keeping me busy. Running around printing flyers, buying food and emailing others. Festifall went rather well, and we have more than 40 people signing up at the booth.

Watching US Open at night had been fun. Djokovic's energy and being funny (Go youtube and search for 'Djokovic'), Federer godlike performance, Nadal losing to the Ferrer, Santoro coming short on his amazing run... And congrats to Henin on winning US Open 2007.

Cooking... I've been doing quite some cooking lately. Nothing too fancy, but sorry for blowing my own trumpet, those dishes so far turned out to be very edible. :P
Romaine with fried onion.
Chicken and potatoes with oyster-sauce. (Over-added the dried chili.)
Maybe I should start another blog of just the food I cook...then, i need to be more 'discipline', in terms of taking pictures of the food I cook before chowing them down.

So, back to the weekly summary.
Monday: Labor day. meeting and all.

Tuesday: First day of class. Woke up at 6.15am and helped out for two hours, before headed to classes at 9 til 11.30am. Went groceries at night.

Wednesday: Work from 7 til 10.15am . Classes from 12 - 1pm. More work from 1.15pm til 3.45pm and more classes from 4 til 5.30pm. Will be my most hectic day of the week.

Thursday: Classes and Festifall. Went to class from 9 til 11am. Was at the Student Actuaries @ Michigan booth from 11 - 4pm. Haircut appointment was canceled.

Friday: Class and work. Had my haircut finally. Went 'shopping' for Fall BBQ on Sunday.

Saturday: More shopping for Fall BBQ. Went to the game. Went to Hong Hua for good food. It was an interesting mix of us who went there. It was a good night.

Sunday... will be having meeting, then BBQ, then will be watching Federer playing Djokovic in the US Open 2007 final. And really need to study for C.

So, i think the question for me to answer before Sept 21st is "to C or not to C?" (Will I be prepared for the 4th actuarial exam if I were to take it in November?)

one week of great learning experience

So, prior to this, I had not much knowledge about what actuaries really do in the real world. I did learn something about life insurance, annuities and perpetuities, and other stuff. But, I had not much knowledge on the property and casualty (P&C) work that actuaries do. Even that is an overstatement, I was so 'ignorance' that I didn't even know what are included under property and casualty.

Having said that, I learned a great deal in my first week of internship here. Not only did I learn about what they are doing now, my manager is having me working on some rather cutting edge ideas of his, and it'll be what P&C actuaries will be doing in the very near future. Cool huh? And that + being the workaholic that I am, every morning after waking up, I feel good and is actually happy to go to work. Yes, I'm for real. I mean, not many people can actually say that they are happy to go to work. I'm really fortunate to be able to say that loudly and proudly.

My colleagues are great too. Too bad most of them are staying at quite a distance from me, or else, I'm pretty sure we will be hanging out more. But, they are moving to Worcester or the neighboring neighborhood, Shrewsbury really soon though. So, that's a plus, and I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Tomorrow, I'll embark on another long journey, to visit my cousin at Delaware. It's gonna be a 5.5 hours drive, and even though this is dwarfed by the 13 hours drive I took last week, and actually, I'm loving driving now (not the having to pump gas part), I'll be driving quite some distance this weekend, because I'll be driving back on Sunday. So, it's gonna be 11 hours of driving over the weekend. So, that's quite a lot of driving too.

Last but not least, I've been having great success in my running. I ran 3 miles on Monday, 3 miles on Tuesday, 4 miles on Wednesday, 4.5 miles on Thursday, and 5 miles today. And I'm going to the gym tomorrow morning for another run before hitting the road for Delaware at about 10am. So, I think this will be my very first 20+ miles of run week for me. Also, the on-site gym (which cost on $20/month), has personal trainer service for free, and one of them is actually making a work out plan for me to help me achieve my ultimate goal, to run a marathon. I think, at the rate I'm going, and if I stay persistent, I'll be ready for a marathon by the end of the year, or end of the academic year. (Chicago Marathon?)

Also, another last but not least. I went to this supermarket, Price Chopper yesterday. And, I found seafood!!! So, I was looking and the cod fillet jumped to me, and they offer free frying service. So, I bought about 1 lb of cod fish (for 6.99/lb), I didn't know 1lb of cod fish was soooooo much, and I could only managed 1/3 of it. The fish was really fresh, and all I needed to go with it was some soy sauce and black pepper over it. I had it with rice and some mixed vegetables, and it was quite a meal. The fish was really good.

And another proud thing to say is that, I had only eat-out once (today's lunch), and that's also, to eat out with my colleagues (I actually brought lunch, but I didn't eat it, had it for dinner instead). So, I had been cooking and I had been pretty successful. And surprisingly, the rice that I cooked with a pot turns out to be OK. (even though I messed up the first time by having a little bit too much water).

So, it had been a great week. Really good week, looking forward to the weekend, and to Monday, to work, where we will have a meeting, and I'm actually gonna tell the team what I had been doing for my first week, and what I'm working on currently. (the cutting edge stuff is too cutting edge to be shared here, who knows who's reading my blog?)

Take care and have fun!