A mix of everything

So, it's been a long while since I really updated you guys about my new job. Well, not really new since I interned here last summer, and pretty much working on the same role, with many of the same people, and many more new people. The group has grown so much that the size it almost twice it used to be. Really glad that the company is doing well, and I'm on this train.

Anyway, it had been an exciting 4 weeks so far. Many night-outs with the actuarial group, (I guess not many people can imagine that... given that the perception of actuaries are dry and nerdy), but hey, not this group.

Also, in my second week, we had an Olympic game thing, which I got really badly injured. How badly, well, a bruised forehead due to someone running full speed at me while playing dodgeball; a gashed lip, resulted from someone running into me (again) while I was catching a ball while playing kickball and a sore-ankle, from my foot catching too much ground while playing kickball. It took me a good 4 day to fully recovered from the injuries, the worst being the gashed lip, as the cut in my inner lip developed into an ulcer, which, well, made it painful to eat.

Then, on the following Monday, I took my dad to the airport. After 2 months in the States, he's heading back home. Before he came, I wondered how the two of us will be, given that I had not been home for more than 2 years now, closing up on 3. But, it had been great. Traveling with my dad and spending so much time with him doing everything. And, not having to think about what to eat... :P and to have dinner ready on the table everyday by the time I got back from work. All these things. Really want to thank him and my mom for all their sacrifices.

So, it's almost 2 weeks, since dad left for home. I'm surviving and well. Just that I had been having dinner later now, instead of 7, it's 8.30pm. Instead of 2 meat dishes and 1 vegetable dish, I have 1 meat dish and 1 vegetable, and more leftovers. But hey, it's all good.

Running. Somehow, I found a new gush of energy in me to run more lately. Much more. I did 38 miles the other week, with a long 10-mile run. Even though the speed wasn't that impressive, averaging 9-minute mile, I did feel pretty good at the end of the run, and could have ran few more miles to make it a half-marathon. But I think I will do that today. I really hope that with all these training, I will do well in my first marathon, Falmouth Dunkin Donuts Marathon (sorta like an oxymoron there), on October 26th. I hope that I will complete it under 4 hours, hopefully, under 3 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds... why that time, so that I can beat Bush.

http://completerunning.com/archives/2007/06/18/famous-celebrity-marathon-runners/

That's rather a tall order, as to run a marathon within that time, I need to run a pace of less than 8:35 minute/mile. I can run 10-mile at this pace. Not sure if I can sustain if for the entire 26.2 mile course. Also, I started doing some interval workout, which is meant to speed-up my running, so, let's see how that will go. Also, I'd been running with my new iPod shuffle, since I won't be able to run with headphones in the marathon, I might need to find a new method to pace myself. But, the Falmouth marathon has one of the most beautiful sceneries for marathon, hopefully, that will help.

http://www.capecodmarathon.com

Next weekend, it's July 4th weekend, and because my uncle and aunt are in Richmond, VA, I'll be driving there (again), and to make it a more worthwhile trip, I'm taking Thursday off, so, it will be a 4-day weekend for me! But, it's about 9-hour drive each way. So, there's a lot of driving.

And, yesterday, I took my car for a good maintenance, expecting a pretty high bill, and they surprised my high-expectation. The damage - $800+. Well, it will be good for awhile. A long while I hope.

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!

It's April...

Can't believe that it's April already. It's really hard to believe how time flies, and I can't believe how many times I said this on the blog too.

So, last week was another packed week. With the usual classes and work on Monday through Thursday, and having to prepare for the SEA Cultural Night on Saturday, and slotting in a SAM field trip to Chicago on Friday, and then, having to work on the Financial Math computer assignment all day on Sunday were definitely not the best way to spend your week. Not to mention, my throat was feeling not so well on Friday, and the Bdubs night out to celebrate my friend's 21st birthday that night wasn't the best way to treat my throat.

As a result, I woke up Saturday with a really coarse voice. And with all the running around (as stage manager), and the singing for the combined performance, left me woke up to a rather serious laryngitis the next morning. I'm literally voiceless. My effort to speak normally will not even result to a soft whisper. In order to make noise, I had to apply pressure to my throat.

Hopefully, I will really get well soon. It will be a really busy week for me though, as I need to work on my final paper, after getting back some really good (and elaborated) comments on my first draft from my prof. So, it's gonna be hell for the next 2 weeks, with all the quizzes, assignments, and not to mention, the looming of exams. Not the best timing to fall sick. But well, is there ever a good time to fall sick?

I did resumed my running, and so far, it had been going well. Surprisingly, after 3 months of not running, my stamina is still the same. I would start my run (on the treadmill) at 6.3 miles/hr, and would increase the speed by an increment of 0.1 miles/hr every 2 minutes, until I reached the 3-mile distance, which then, the increment would depend on my 'condition' at that time. If I'm still feeling strong, I would go for a 0.2 increment every 2 minutes, until 8.5 miles/hr. And then, at the very end, I'll pump the speed up to 9.0miles/hr, and run at that speed for few minutes, and by this time, the total distance covered should be close to 5 miles. And that's when I'll stop. 5 miles in 41-42 minutes.

Next target, 6 miles in 48 minutes. And then, 10 miles in 80 minutes. And then 8 miles in 60 minutes. And then, 10 miles in 75 minutes. (being ambitious here) And hopefully by then, can do a 15 miles in 2 hours. (see where I'm going here?)... BEING VERY AMBITIOUS... to train for a marathon. I think there are other methods out there developed by pros and all on google, but well, I think I'll do this on my own. Since I want to have fun, yeah, my definition of fun might be a bit insane, but well, it's a mad world. And, there's nothing pressing, I mean, I like to run after a long day, a 3-mile or a 5-mile is always good to 'slow' down after a long day.

And, as promised, next post will be about my trip to Manchester more than a month ago. Sorry guys. But, what's worth mentioning is that Manchester United won their game last weekend. 4 - 1. They are a mean bunch of goal scoring monsters this season. But, I'm not complaining.