Yujian's Exchange In USA

Rest of my trip... LA Downtown, Las Vegas & Grand Canyon

2007-12-28T11:48:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

this entry is more or less going to summarize my end-of-year trip. Well, after i visited Hollywood, i went out to visit LA Downtown, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. It was a day trip for LA downtown but we did walk the whole of downtown covering areas such as the business district, the historical theatre district, little tokyo, toy district and chinatown.

Well, I feel that LA downtown is kinda weird. Half of the downtown was fancy looking business district buildings while the other half is practically slumps which are inhabited by the Latinos. LA has a rich history which was related to the spanish and as such, we can see many Latinos in LA downtown. Nonetheless, this city isn't really one of the cities that I would like to live and work in.

downtown LA

Beautiful part of downtown LA

It too has a public library

Wells Fargo Building

LA Cityhall

Entrance of Chinatown

Catholic Chapel near Union Station

Union Station (old cityhall) - am i in Mexico?

A blend of old and new

Staples Center - Home of LA Lakers

Well, next up is Las Vegas. After about 5 and a half hours of Greyhound ride, I finally made it to Las Vegas (aka Sin City). Sin City it indeed is... It seriously has most vices that we don't find in around the world. Gambling, Strippers, Pornography, etc etc... Well, just an interesting fact, prostitution is banned in Las Vegas. Hmmm....

Nonetheless, Las Vegas is really a nice touristy place. The buildings are really very beautiful and each of them has a theme which mesmerizes tourists. Large neon lights, beautiful structures and tourists domniated the streets. Just take a look below and you'll find it quite amazing. There are more casinos and hotels but i guess i wun upload all...

El Cortez - The Hotel i stayed on the first day

The Mirage

The Mirage again

The Lyxor (themed after Egypt)

Excalibur (themed after King Arthur)

New York-New York (themed after NYC)

The original bar-top dancing club (coyote ugly)

Monte Carlo (I duno what theme)

Lambo for rental

Paris (the only other place on earth that you can find the Eiffel Tower)

Caesar's Palace (I think its the biggest Casino here)

Wynn (Steve Wynn's bid to build the best hotel on earth)

Trump Towers

The Palazzo & The Venetian (expensive stuff)

The Strip @ Night

Another View

One more view

Planet Hollywood

Riviera hotel

The Volcano of the Mirage

Volcano Erupting

Las Vegas Downtown

Well, the last part of the entry will be about Grand Canyon. One of the nicest place i've visited in US. We took a 5 hour drive from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon and stayed for a night before heading back. The trip there and back is actually quite coolz. You get to see different kind of terrain and also the famous scenic spots. Apart from the canyon itself, we also visited Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and Flagstaff town.

The view from the Grand Canyon was really nice. Well, at this moment of time, i still prefered the view in Nepal. Nonetheless, I loved the drive to and fro Grand Canyon. The view on route is seriously very nice and it definitely entertained me for the 5 hrs of driving. Let's just take a look. Note: the temperature at Grand Canyon was -10 degrees celcius.

Lake Mead area marker

Lake Mead (people actually do water sports here during summer)

Lake Mead and me

Grand Canyon and Me

Another view of Grand Canyon and me

Sunrise @ Grand Canyon

The sun is still risiing

Powell Monument

The sun finally made its appearance

Another look at the Canyon

The Canyon again

Me and the Canyon

Good look at the Canyon

Total different View of the Canyon (its big)

View on route from Grand Canyon back

More stuff on route

Me driving

Hoover Dam (I dunno the guy)

This is where Transformers was filmed

One last look at the dam

That's it folks... i suddenly realized that my blog is becoming like facebook... only got pictures... I think I'll try to type more and show less pics next time... Anyway, i'll be heading to Taiwan tomorrow.... yay!

3 days into my travelling

2007-12-22T11:41:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I have finally completed 3 days of my 10-day west coast travel. For the past 3 days, i've covered Santa Monica and Hollywood. It has been an easy three days and I enjoyed myself. Well, the 2 places aren't exactly the most exciting places ever but it reaffirmed my theory that media culture has really created more hype than neccessary.

First up is Santa Monica. Santa Monica is most famous for its beaches and its beautiful sunset. Well, i have to agree that its really the first time i've seen the sun set into the sea and it is really quite nice. Unfortunately, its winter season and the beach is empty! yes empty... no hot babes or hot hunks... just no one... nonetheless, I still went to the (world famous) Santa Monica Pier and took some pictures. The other thing that is interesting about Santa Monica is the 3rd street promenade. Its like xi men ding of taiwan and bugis junction of Singapore. The only difference is that it has all the famous US brands like guess, A&F, Victoria Secrets, etc. Here's some pictures of Santa Monica Beach and the Third Street Promenade.

Santa Monica Place

Third Street Promenade

Abercrombie & Fitch

Cupcakes

Sunset @ Santa Monica Beach

Santa Monica Pier

Another sunset

Sun setting into the sea

Sunset with me

Coming back from Santa Monica Pier

The 2nd day was spent on Malibu beach. Malibu beach is another famous beach in the US. Private properties sprawl accross the sides of the beach and trust me, these houses are damn damn damn beautiful. Its not only nicely built but i'm sure its very comfy. The houses extend into the beach and I'm sure the owners can just sit in their house and watch the beautiful sunset. Nonetheless, during our walk along the beach, we realize that most of the houses are empty. Let's assume that the owners are either at work or this is their vacation house. Check out these pics...

the sea!

nice house 1

nice house 2

nice house 3

nice house 4

nice house 5

nice house 6

nice house 7

lying on somebody's deck chair

my legs and the sea

Today was spent in Hollywood... Quite a nice experience I must say. Well, this is afterall the world's movie center. There is the walk of fame, the hollywood sign, the Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre (where the oscars are held every year), and more! Nonetheless, i feel that its just a place that is more or less done up to cater to tourists. The true symbolic meaning of the place probably should be the whole media industry that sprawls the surrounding region. I took the chance to catch a movie in the Chinese theatre to get myself into the movie mood. I watched the show "I am legend" by Will Smith. Its ok i guess. Hmm... Hollywood seriously is a touristy place. All you can see and feel there is more about the history and the development of the media or rather the film industry in US. My opinions of the place is that its just a hub where the script writers, the actors, the producers, the directors and other people involved in making a movie come together... that's abt it...

Outside the Chinese Theatre

Elmo with Darth Vader

Hollywood Guiness World of Records

Captain Jack Sparrow

Hollywood Bowl (the biggest natural auditorium in the world)

Hollywood Sign

Paramount Pictures Office

A nice house in Hollywood district

well, next up, LA downtown and Las Vegas!

Good bye Upenn... Harlow Travelling!

2007-12-19T11:55:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

just finished my last paper in Upenn... i'm going to be travelling for the next 3 weeks... so seeya guys then!

Florida Part 2 - Miami, Everglades and Florida Keys

2007-12-17T07:42:00.001+08:00

Hi all,

the 2nd part of my florida trip covers miami and the area around it. After arriving inMiami at around 7 in the morning, we headed straight for a car rental company. We managed to rent a cheap car (US$170 for 2 days inclusive of $44 worth of petrol). We then drove directly towards south beach (a famous beach in Miami, and the US). Although it was a sunday morning, the beach wasn't filled with people. We later found out that because most people were busy partying for the past few days and thus did not flock the the beaches over the weekends. Well, the beach was ok, with a nice sky and a nice weather. Nonetheless, i find it similar to what we have in sentosa.

South Beach, Miami

Well, before we checked in to our hotel, we had brunch at a nearby restaurant. We had omelettes and other breakfast sets. Its realyl quite comfy to just sit by the beach and have a nice meal. Here's what we had:

Egg Benedict (the 2 white lumps are poached eggs)

Waffles

Chef Omelette

Some Egg Dish... can't remember the name (and i had this)

Fish Wrap

Well, the next day was a llooooong day for you an and me. As the rest head back to Philly, the 2 of us drove to everglades, the only wildlife natural reserve in the US. It's really not too bad. We caught glimspes of crocodiles (a lot of them), different types of birds, and even a nice sunset! Well, all i can say is that you can really speed within the nature reserve... hahah!

At the entrace of Everglades

Outside the visitor centre at Everglades

Bird spreading its wings

Crocodiles

Sunset

Looking at the Sunset

The last part of the tour was a LOOOOONNNNGGGG drive to florida keys. Well, Florida keys is a whole chain of islands that are connected by a series of bridges. its about 230km from Miami and we actually drove there and back overnight. Well, it was cool having seafood dinner beside the beach and most importantly, we reach the southern most point of USA! It was really a cool place. It has many pubs which were still open at 11pm, and its basically a resort city... a cool place to visit if you're just here to chill out.

Our seafood dinner

Southern Most point!

The ending of the US-1 Highway

Rights, that more or less concludes my Florida trip. I think i might not be able to blog much in the days to come. I'm having an exam in 2 days time and I will be flying off to the west coast about 5 hours after the exam! haha... till then folks!

Florida Part 1 - Orlando Disney World 2D2N

2007-12-12T06:25:00.000+08:00

Hi All,

this blog entry would cover half of the trip that I've just done in Florida. Its about the disney world trip that i went i can assure you that the place is great!

Day 1

The trip started right after my friday econs class (again). Right after class, i ran to the SEPTA regional rail (university City Station) to catch the train to the airport. I met kieren there and we waited just a little less than 10 mins when the train arrived. Cutting the rest of the story short, what happened for the next 3 hrs is purely check in and check out of the respective airports. The fun is when we finally arrived at our hotel.

Thanks to Kieren, we got ourselves a Villa at sheraton. Yes Sheraton Hotel Resort. Its actually not very expensive. Each of us paid US$80 for 2 nights in this resort and another night in a resort in Miami. I'll tell you more abt the hotel in Miami later. Well, the hotel in Orlando is actually quite nice. I really liked it. Its a comfortable villa that fits a family. It has 2 rooms, 2 toilets (1 with Jacuzzi), a kitchen and a living room.

Kitchen in the Villa

Villa living room

One of the rooms

Our patio

Disney Booth at Sheraton

We spent our first day night at what they would call Downtown Disney. This is like an area of shopping and restaurants for people to visit in the evening. Its quite a nice place. We had our dinner at planet hollywood before we made our way around the place. There are many Disney shops but I'm particularly attracted to 2. The first is the lego shop (well, its not exactly a disney shop). It really got me thinking about the time when i was young and i loved lego. I played lego day and night everyday. It was my favorite activity. The lego structures there were just outstanding! Take a look!

Eifel Tower

Mini Lego Figurines filled the wall

Mech Warrior!

A dinosaur that moves!

France

Moscow

Sydney

New York

London

Hong Kong

This is lego too!

The 2nd shop that I liked is the Disney Shop that sells disney products. Its really kinda cool with all the Disney characters and apparels. The shop is nicely decorated and I really liked the place! Take a look!

Minature Cinderella Castle

One of the Disney Shop Entrace

Day 2

Day 2 is like the best part of my Orlando Trip! We spent the whole day at Disney World and every moment of it is great. We started our Disney World visit at around 9am and we lasted till around 12am. This is just great! Well, Disney World has a total of 4 theme parks, 2 water parks and some other stuff... At the same time, it would be good to note that Orlando Disney World is the biggest Disney World theme park among all its peers in the world!

During our day, we visited 2.5 theme parks. We spent ard 5 hrs each at Disney World Magical Kingdom and Epcot. We then spend around 3 hours at Disney MGM studio and ended the day with fireworks at Magical Kingdom again. I won't waste my words on describing the place... its just incredible... check out the pics!

Chip & Dale

Cinderella Castle

Founder of Walt Disney with Mickey

Sculpture of Donald

Sculpture of Pinnochio

Sculpture of Pluto

Sculpture of Dumbo

Cinderella Castle up near

One of the rides we went with Brer Rabbit Story

Tigger and Pooh

Winnie the Pooh Playground (you can find the treehouse here)

A Winnie the Pooh Ride

Epcott - Another themepark

Test Track - the Fastest and Longest Ride in Disney

Mission Space: Let you feel the G-force

Mexican Donald and Me

A performance from and old show

One of the areas in Epcott (Simba is here)

Another Area in Epcott - Nemo is here

Christmas is around the corner

Disney MGM Studio

Mickey the Socerer

Night view of the Cinderella Tower

Last look at the Tower

Check out this video!

Well, there are lots of stuff to talk about for Miami too! nonetheless, i've decided to just include pics and less words... but that will be for the next entry!

Probably the last post on my food

2007-12-06T06:29:00.001+08:00

I realized that is has been quite a while since i've post pictures of my food... recently, my food is getting boring... the same old stuff.. nonetheless, i'm still cooking my own meals... anyway, here's some new stuff i tried to cook... take a look...

Rice with pork cake PLUS eggs

Spicy Dan Dan Mian

Another wonderful Basketball Match

2007-12-05T13:45:00.000+08:00

Heyz,

I attended yet again another basketball match @ Penn. It was the match between Penn and North Carolina. I think North Carolina has not been defeated yet this season and is going really strong. The match ended with 71-106. North Carolina won. Throughout the match, i really though North Carolina had the upper hand and they were really better skilled and physically stronger than the Penn players.

Nonetheless, the match today was really entertaining. Apart from the cheerleader stuff that i've seen the last time round, today's match and half time performance was extraordinary. North Carolina players could power drive through the Penn defense easily and I saw (i think) more than 10 slamdunks during the game! North Carolina players even scored with reverse layups and long hang-time jump shots. Not only were they good on the power drives, their shooting was definitely good. I estimate an 80 - 90% FG percentage. OMG!

Anyway, the half time show was really good... there were stunt basketballers who did stunt slam dunks! There were springs from which they will jump from and do sommersault slam dunks and stuff. Its really entertaining!

Nonetheless, I will be leaving this place soon. I think this will be one of the things that I miss most when I leave Penn...

3D2N Boston (Warning: Long Post)

2007-12-03T10:05:00.000+08:00

Hi All,

i'm back from Boston! (well technically, i'm writing this blog entry while i'm on my bus trip back from Boston). The trip in Boston has been fabulous and I think its due to a combination of various factors. Having a nice friend (yun weizhong) to bring me around, having a group of nice roommates (technically weizhong's roommates) and having a nice city for me to visit. Here's a summary of what i did. I took 123 pictures, visited downtown Boston, Harvard, MIT, ate coldstone ice cream, legal sea foods and Cheesecake factory. Well here's the full story (trust me, its going to be long, i've got 4 hours)...

I left for Boston on Friday afternoon. Right after my econs class at 12pm, i made my way to center city (philadelphia) to "catch" the 1pm Chinatown bus. The bus ride was more or less comfortable with only 4 passengers on the bus. It took me a bit less than 2 hours to reach New York City Chinatown. Not wanting to lose a single minute, i ran around in Chinatown in search of the Chinatown bus (Fung Wah or Lucky Star) leaving for Boston. After about a 5 minute dash around Chinatown, i was just in time to catch the 3pm bus which was (already) leaving for Boston. I stopped the bus and hoped on as one of the last passengers (well, there were a few more people who got on after me, thanks to me stopping the bus). The next 5 and a half hours was gruesome. The bus ride from New York to Boston was supposed to take 4 hrs. However, due to a traffic accident resulting in a jam, it took me 5.5 hrs. The ride was boring as a drifted in and out of sleep (as well as drifting in and out of my book, my notes, my textbook and 1 game of DOTA).

Ok, what's up next is the interesting part. I arrived at Boston! Boston is really quite a nice place. I arrived at around 830pm and was welcomed by my dear friend weizhong. He then brought me to a japanese (but having chinese waiteresses) steamboat place. The dinner was not bad and I met some of his new friends in Boston. They were Ryan (Born in Tianjin, China, grew up in Australia), Lavender (Born in Fujian, China studying in HK) and Anthony (Born and studying in HK). A group of nice people. We then ended dinner with desert and Coldstone.

My Coldstone ice cream

After i got back to Weizhong's place (his dorm room at Babson College), i got to meet his roommates. Another bunch of nice guys. Arghz, wished i could have made good friends like this at Penn (well there were some lah, but mostly singaporeans). Ok here's the bunch of them, Billy (his Resident Assistant cum SUPER NICE GUY), Luilly (pronounced as Luigi and another funny guy who wants to be a marine, you'll laff when you see him), Walt (I only met him later in the night), Won (I only met him on Saturday night) and Jukka (I only met him on sunday morning).
Nonetheless, I played Beer Pong with Luilly only to end the game with me losing. Fortunately, I only lost by 1 cup. Well, for those who dunno the game Beer Pong, its where you try to throw a Ping Pong ball into your opponent's beer cup. There is a rack (like pool) where you try to get as many in as possible. Well for details, check out google. After hanging out and chilling out for a while, we all fell asleep at 2 plus.

The next day was spent fully on touring Boston. Unfortunately, I only have 1 full-day to tour the place. Nonetheless I loved it. Downtown Boston is comparable to Chicago. Its clean, nice architecture (with lots of churches) and has a nice shopping area (makes me totally shy of what i have in Philadelphia). Nonetheless, there was ONE very important factor which was quite problematic. I met one of the coldest times in Boston. IT WAS -10 DEGREES CELCIUS!. Weizhong and I suffered in the cold for the whole day. But still, the tour was good.

We arrived at Boston Downtown at around 1130am. We then took the 12pm ducktours around Boston. It was about 2 hours long and it brought me around Boston. I got to see the history of Boston (the various churches and old buildings) and I also took a small dip (in the Duck of course) in the Charles River. The Charles River divides downtown Boston with the Cambridge "suburb". Cambridge area is where the all-famous Harvard and MIT is located. I'll tell you more about the place later. After the short dip, we ended the tour after a few rounds around the downtown. Well, just like what weizhong said, I was discounted for the duck tours coz i didn't have the chance to walk around downtown on foot which would have given me a much better view of the place.

Prudential Center (their shopping mall)

An old building in Boston Downtown

View from the duck on Charles River

The Duck Tours Booth

The duck

Boston Public Library

Harvard

Well, after lunch in a supermarket, we made our way via the metro (they call it the "T") to the cambridge area. Just a bit on the metro. Its one of the cleanest metro i've ever seen in the US. The system is efficient, has clean stations and the operator (the only one i met) was friendly. Well, kudos to Charlie (that's what they call the transport system in Boston). Ok, it took me about 10minutes and I arrived at Harvard station. As a emerged from the metro station, I see harvard square. Well, harvard square is really nice with shops and stuff around. The nice feeling i get is probably due to the nice red colored shophouses present in the area. Weizhong and I then made our way to the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Well, in terms of the environment and the look of the place, Harvard totally trash watever Penn has. The place is clean, well maintained and comfortable. Frankly, it gives me a feeling that I was in Europe. Although I've not been there, but this would be how i would imagine Europe to be. Victorian buildings, quiet and cosy. Well, we then walked around and took some pictures of the various buildings (see below). We also tried to do the SMU jump outside the Blooberg Center (its just a Harvard Building that was sponsored by Michael Bloomberg, nothing directly related to the company). After that, we made our way around to the undergraduate portion of the school. I tried to find the Econs dept and only 1 out of 10 passersby knew where the Econs dept was (and he was unsure of which it was too). One point about the people i met at Harvard. The people were generally not very friendly. Weizhong and I concluded that they are probably snobbish but I'll keep my reservations until I do get a chance to study there / or a chance to interact on a more personal level with one. After taking a picture of the School of Public Administration (where the dept of econs is), we left for MIT after visiting the John Harvard statue.

On the way to harvard on the bridge

Harvard Square

The gate to Soldier's Field @ Harvard (their stadium)

Bloomberg Building @ Harvard

Near to the executive MBA school @ Harvard

Along Charles River

Along Charles River (trying to do an SMU jump)

One of the buildings in Harvard Quad

A Harvard Church

School of Public Administration (housing the econs dept)

John Harvard Statue

Metro Station @ Harvard

MIT

Next up, we have MIT. Well, although many people tell me that the buildings in Harvard is better looking than MIT (and I have to agree), i actually liked my visit to MIT more. It was already nightfall when i was at MIT (remember nightfall in Boston at this time of the year is at 4 to 5pm). As the temperature was almost killing us, we bumped around in the campus and sneaked into the school buildings (unlike Harvard, the buildings in MIT were accessible freely). We walked around the campus and trust me, now i know why they have the brightest minds in the world. After entering into the building (we entered from the backdoor, so we din know that were were in the dome building that was famous for MIT), we entered the basement hosting the material science and I would think Quantum physics area. Whoa, it totally reminds me of my A level physics. The area was damn damn damn cool lah... It made research cool and it really looked like what you see in the movies. Long corridors and cool looking research facilities. Weizhong claimed that it looks like those underground holding facility in the Holocaust and I actually think so too. After going to the 1st floor, we actually bumped into the mathematics dept and the alumni area. Whoa, another happening area. The students that we saw were like super intelligent-looking (i actually overheard their conversations and it does sound like intelligent exchanges of knowledge). We then walked around and were greated by the various noticeboards of the different departments (music, math, physics, etc). well, all I can say about this place is that although the people looked like the typical "bookworm" kind, I think they are really super intelligent and maybe more humble than the Harvard people. Finally, we made our way to the Sloan School of business (where the econs dept was too) and explored abit. I went to the door of the Econs dept and that was the furthest I could reach. Imagine the number of intelligent professors in there man!

Welcome to MIT

History of Math Poster @ MIT

Economics Poster @ MIT

The Dome @ MIT (w/o me)

The MIT Dome (with me)

The Chemists

I wonder... (its a material engineering prof i think)

The economics dept @ MIT

MIT metro Station

We then made our way to Legal sea foods. legal sea foods is a franchise seafood place in Boston. Its something like Fish&Co just that its more posh and served more expensive stuff. We had the all famous Boston New England Clam Chowder, Fried Calamari and the Shrimps and Garlic (a spaghetti dish). Its really not bad. It would be a recommendation when you get to Boston. Its seriously full most of the time.

my meal @ Legal Sea Foods

At around 830pm, We made our way back to Weizhong's place. Weizhong was supposed to do his project but fell asleep after a few drinks with Luilly. I stayed up till 2am to finish some work and clear some emails. I then fell asleep in a super comfy sofa bed at Weizhong's hostel.

Sunday was seriously not much. We left Weizhong's hostel at around 11am and took a few pictures of Babson. According to Weizhong, Babson is a private school and it is US number one in terms of Entrepreneurship. Well, basically everyone here majors in Entrepreneurship. Well, the school only has about 1000+ students but I think the people that I've met really gave me a good impression of the place. Back to Sunday. We left Babson at 12pm and reached Boston Downtown at 1250pm. We grabbed cheesecake from cheesecake factory and made our way to south station terminal. I arrived at around 130pm and immediately boarded the Lucky Star back to NYC. I will probably reach Philly at 830pm i guess. Well, that's it for my wonderful boston trip. I'll just leave you with some pics of Babson and Boston.

The globe @ Babson

International Flags @ Babson

Babson Main Building

Yupz... that's it folks! I'll be going Florida (i.e. Disney world and Miami Beach) this coming weekend!

Busy week ahead

2007-11-28T11:05:00.000+08:00

I also forgot to mention that I'll be damn busy this coming 2 weeks so I'm really sorry for not updating my blog... But then again, you guys will be done with exams in a few days! Once you're done, you'll probably not read my blog le since you'll be out playing or something... wahahah....

anyway, here's my plans:
This Week
Wed: Spanish Quiz
Thursday: 45% presentation
Friday: Spanish Essay First Draft in Class
Friday - Sunday: Boston Visit (MIT, Harvard, Boston, Weizhong)

Next Week
Monday: Econs Quiz + Spanish Final Exam (yes, right after Boston)
Tuesday: Spanish Essay Final Draft in Class
Thursday: Spanish Oral Exam
Friday - Tuesday: Florida (Orlando - walt disney, Miami)

Next Next Week
Monday - Tuesday: Still in Florida
Wednesday: Econs Final Exam - 25% (yes, right after Florida)
Saturday - Sunday: Bring SMU friend (Ron) around Philly

Next Next Next Week
Tuesday night: Derivatives final exam - 40%
Tuesday Midnight / Wednesday Morning 3am: Head to West Coast

For the rest, see West Coast Schedule.

The lovely days in Toronto

2007-11-28T10:52:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

as mentioned, i spent my thanksgiving in Toronto, Canada with my relatives. My main purpose in going to Toronto was to visit my grandparents as well as my uncle. Frankly, apart from the short 3 days in August, it has been more than 16 years since i've met my uncle, my auntie as well as my grandpa. My grandma visited Singapore 4 years ago and that was the last time i met them.

I have to thank my Uncle Tom (see pic below) for sponsoring my return air tickets between Toronto and Philadelphia. It was one of the best gifts ever as it really gave me a chance to meet up with my "long lost" relatives.

Over the past 4 days, I spent every night chatting with Uncle Tom. It was really crazy how we could still bond and talk about everything in life even though the last and one of the very few times i met him i was just when I was a 9 year old boy.

This trip really meant a lot to me. I felt family love for the first time since i left Singapore. It was also really touching that I could love them so much although I have not really met them much in my life. Well, I guess this is a good starting point for the family to come together. Although my relatives are spread all over at the 2 ends of the world, I really look forward to the day that we can spend quality time together as a family.

Snowing in Toronto (only started when I arrived)

My grandparents and I

My grandparents and I @ Tom Houston (a coffee shop like Ya Kun)

My grandparents, Uncle Tom and I (see the similar jacket, actually its different brands)

My grandparents

My grandparents and I once more

That's what we did all the time (eat, and yes i'm damn fat)

A nice pine tree outside my uncle's house

Taking a picture with Auntie Angie (Uncle Tom's wife)

Boring weekend but exciting weekends ahead!

2007-11-22T03:32:00.000+08:00

Hi All!

sorry for the long drought of blog entries. My weekend has been so-so but I'm sure all the SMU people would be busy mugging for their finals. As such, I would like to provide some suggestions for some entertainment in between studying. Well, i would suggest that apart from blogging or reading blogs, you can consider the following:

Playing DOTA, CS, etc

I just found out that DOTA map 6.49AI is out! you can play DOTA 6.49AI if you're by yourself and you can also lancraft with the rest of your friends. If you are still thinking about the last semester when we played CS all day long before, during and after exams, you can also gather all your friends to CS! Trust me, after CSing for about 4 to 5hrs, you'll probably feel guilty and start studying. However, do note that these activities might be addictive and cause a negative impact on your final grades.

Watch Drama / Shows

I have been watching "heroes" every week since the start of season 2. Fortunately for me, I am able to watch "heroes" on the NBC website. The storyline is getting interesting and I'm sure you guys will enjoy it. For those who are not in America, i'm sure you guys have got your own "sources" for your viewing pleasure. Anyway, another title recommended to me by ah kow is "How I met your Mother". Its shown on CBS every week and trust me, its really one of the funniest shows i've watched. Catch both of these!

Going for supper

this is one of the activities that i really miss! Nightlife here in US (i would say specifically in Penn) is really boring. GSRs are full at night and lack of places for you to get supper. Not to mention that they don't have "Dou Hua" or "You tiao" here. Do consider going to chomp chomp, or other nearby hawker centres during this period to relieve stress. Note: for those who are going exchange next semester, this is a highly recommended activity.

Exercise

I think i miss this activity the most! It is really difficult to exercise when winter is approaching. I'm experiencing temperatures around 2 to 8 degrees celcius. Not too appropriate for running I guess. Nonetheless, I think exercising is the activity that helps most in studying. For me, exercising keeps me awake and helps me to focus. So try this out!

Continue to mug hard

Well, this wouldn't be a recommended activity. Trust me, as an economist, i can assure you that there are decreasing marginal returns to studying. I even think some people have studied so hard that they reach the pt when they have reached decreasing total returns. So please, study just the right amount will do!

So what did i do last week?
Well, i seriously didn't do anything interesting last week. On saturday, i slept in to recuperate from the lack of sleep during weekdays. I usually sleep at 2am and wake up at 8am... I know its quite a lot already. Just that I feel tired lah...

On sunday, the 4 SMU exchange students together with 1 lady from NUS took up the challenge and drove to and fro woodsbury premium outlet. Woodsbury premium outlet is one the most popular factory outlets for tourists. There are seriously many many brands that you can choose from and the price is much cheaper than regular prices. Well, i highlighted only the word cheaper because i want to emphasize that it is cheaper and not cheap. Nonetheless, a lot of my friends (especially girls) would refute the point and claim that it is cheap. Well, i guess the idea of cheap conforms to Einstein's famous finding - the theory of relativity.

View on the road is good

View from the road again

Woodsbury at night

What am i going to do for the rest of the week?
This week is thanksgiving for US. Thursday is thanksgiving day and this is the day when people come together to thank god for all the good things that has happened to them. I think this is a good holiday at just the right time. The US market has been diving for the past weeks and I guess giving it a 2 day break should help to slow down the fall. Regardless, let's just shifts stocks away from our minds and just relax (or alternatively you can shift your stock holdings away from your portfolio and purchase fixed income instead, haha).

Anyway, due to thanksgiving, i am having holiday from thursday to sunday. So for the next 4 days, its time to travel again! This time, i'm going back to a familiar place. I will be visiting my grandparents and my uncle and auntie in Toronto. I will be leaving on plane in about 2 hours time and I hope I've got time to still update my blog and show you guys more of toronto ya?

Time's running out
Anyway, i've got many deadlines coming up and i'm kinda bothered by the fact that i still have to do work during thanksgiving. I've got 1 spanish quiz, 1 presentation and 1 assignment due next week. What the hell! Well, what i meant by time's running out is that i'll be coming back to Singapore soon! yay and no yay. There are probably 4 more "tours" that i'll be making b4 i come back to Singapore. Let's hope it turns out well. The details are as below:

30th Nov - 2nd Dec: Boston Trip (got spanish exam on monday right after)

7th Dec - 11th Dec: Florida Trip - Orlando to visit walt disney and Miami to visit south beach (got econs final exam right after on 12th)

19th Dec - 28th Dec: West Coast Trip - Santa Monica, Hollywood, LA, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon

30th Dec - 4th Jan: Taiwan to visit May!

Yupz... this is a long blog entry... so take care and till next time!

2 more dishes:

Steam Fish with sweet soya sauce

This is a new creation

i'll call it "8 treasures for the poor" (not really 8 treasures)

(has pork, egg, crab meat, mushroom, and tofu)

Yam's Kitchen (noodles version)

2007-11-15T02:39:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

just in case you guys were wondering how come only got rice... here's some noodles / spaghetti:

Dried Noodles with Mixed Gravy

(crab stick, mushrooms, pork and green pepper)

Fettucine
(Tastes good)

Roast Beef Slices

Failed Chaowanmushi

Fried Fettucine (yes it was the left over from the spaghetti)

steam fish

Do i know what i want?

2007-11-14T11:43:00.000+08:00

I've decided to dedicate the million dollar question to my friends out here reading my blog... do you guys think i know what i want? Here are your options:

(a) Yes i know but only for the short run (i.e. next five years)
(b) Yes i know and i know how my whole life should go
(c) Yes i know but only abt the long run (i.e. how i want my life to be in the future)
(d) No i'm a confused fellow
(e) No and i choose not to think about it

My first live basketball game in USA (Upenn VS Drexel)

2007-11-10T11:13:00.000+08:00

Hi peepz!

I'm writing this entry with lots of energy and fervour. I just came back from a basketball match between Upenn Basketball and Drexel University Basketball Team. The experience was really so much better than any Basketball matches that i've watched back in Singapore. I totally enjoyed the atmosphere. Everyone was SUPER enthusiastic about the game and the crowd was constantly cheering for their teams (or booing the opposition). I have never seen a crowd as enthusiastic as them back in Singapore. It really brings back memories of my track and field days when we cheered for our trackers down on the field.

Anyway, the whole match was unlike the typical university game that we see back in Singapore. in fact, the whole show is even more grand than a typical S-league game! At the beginning of the match, the bballers would run in into the courts while the broadcaster read out the names of the starting players. The cheers and boos from the crowd were just overwhelming. Shortly after, the whole stadium would rise to sing the national anthem.

Although the way the basketball match was run is similar to singapore (i.e. 2 halfs, and similar rules), the crowd really made the difference. At every timeout, cheerleaders would run out onto the court to cheer on their teams. There is also a band from each school who will be playing music or drumming beats for cheers. During halftime, there were also dancers from each school who would be putting on a halftime show. Sometimes, there would be random participants who will go onto the court for quickshot competitions to win prizes during breaks.

The part that i enjoyed most was the active and participative crowd. During every free throw, the audience from the team who was making the shot would raise their hands with their wrists flapping downwards to support their team. The opposition team would also try their best to distract the opponent by waving their hands or booing the shooter. throughout the game, you could hear people calling the players name. My favorite one was when a drexel guy shot an airball. The penn people immediately chorused in unison, "airball airball, airball airball, LOSER!"

This got me thinking about how the players would react. They really had to hold their calm and make their shots. I guess the players probably also got used to this and wouldn't take it to heart after the game.

Anyway, i'll just end this entry with the summary of the game. Although Penn didn't lead the game at all, they put up a very strong fight. My favorite moment of the game was when Penn was still lagging by 3 points during the last 30seconds of the game. Defense by Drexel was tight and it was almost impossible to win the game. When the game was left with around 15 seconds, Penn was awarded 2 freethrows that might reduce the score difference to 1. What happened was almost legendary. The player show the freethrow and got the first 1 in... One more to go... He made the second shot... and he missed! but what happened next was like in the movies. Penn got the rebound and continued to make shots. They made shots continously from under the basket but they keep on missing due to the tight defense. The clock slowly ticked away and Penn was 1 second away from losing when a Penn player finally scrambled the ball in for the draw! Everyone from Penn was jumping in joy! I saw people hugging each other and everyone was almost moved to tears (that included me). This was truly one of the most exciting matches i've seen.

Well, unfortunately, although we were able to pull a draw in regular time. Extra time wasn't so smooth. The drexel shooters were darn accurate and got quite a few 3-pointers. In fact, i suspect that the number of 3points were more than the number of 2points. In the end, Penn lost by 5 and that was the end of the game.

This experience was definitely worth the $6 that i paid for the ticket. I'll definitely go for more matches from now on... I would say that this is the best form of entertainment i had for months!

My ticket (US$6 and its the student price)

One of the decorations in the stadium (it was about how Penn got disqualified from NCAA because some of their players on financial aid did not get at least a 1.6GPA)

Singing the national anthem

The match (Penn in White, Drexel in dark blue)

another view of the match

Penn students trying to distract the drexel player making a freethrow

This is the hand gesture that Penn students make when we make our freethrows

The cheerleaders

22seconds left with 3 points difference

Getting the draw in the last second forcing extra time

(i know someone else from SMU women's bball who did this too)

The final score...

Yam's Kitchen

2007-11-10T05:13:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

i'm coming to the end of my menu... so far, i've consolidated about 50+ different pictures of the food i've made... not exactly 50 dishes but more or less 50 variations of food. I'm running out of ideas for new food already... in the mean time, here are my recent dishes... please do offer some suggestions ya?

Maybe i should make chi kuey... hmmm

fried celery with beef

hong shao tofu (crab stick and beef version)

Hong shao tofu (another variation)

shang hai mian

Jiao Zi

Fried Rice

The food is getting boring man...

The past 1 week

2007-11-07T01:17:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

time to update my blog again... thanks to Paul, i have to speed up the blogging speed. Anyway, the past 1 week was kinda busy because my friend was going to visit over the weekend and I had to finish all my work before that so that I can bring her around over the weekend.

Anyway, on Saturday, i brought my friend around Philadelphia and showed her to the various places which were interesting. Seriously, it was quite limited and all i could show her was the parkway / museum district which has the famous philadelphia art museum, the commercial area, the italian market, the famous Pat's cheesesteak, and the historic district. The following are the pictures in Philadelphia.

Logan Circle

Outside of the Philadelphia Art Museum with the best possible Phiadelphia Skyline View (people were having their wedding photos taken here)

Finally, i got the chance to take a picture with the liberty bell

A war memorial in Philadelphia for the unnamed soldiers who fought for America during the American Revolution

An old US submarine at Penn's Landing

On sunday, i brought my fren for a 1 day quick tour of NYC. We took the 530am bus from Philadelphia to NYC and reached there at around 715am. After having a nice breakfast at Chinatown, we made our way to wall street. The familiar views of the NYSE dawns upon me once again and after a quick walk east, we ended up at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Nonetheless, we did not board the Staten Island Ferry that was free. Instead, we walked to battery park and took a US$15 circle line trip that brought us around the the bottom half of manhattan island... i would say that this is quite worth the money since the view of the skyline was quite outstanding.

We then began our arduous trek up north. The plan was to walk from the southern tip of Manhattan Island towards central park. Half way through, we made pit stops at NYU, Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, and various shopping spots. The trip was planned to exhaust our legs and i guess after about 6 hours of trekking, we reached Central Park, our final destination. Well, this is a good lesson indicating that the aim of a trek is not the destination but the process. The route from Battery Park to Central Park (approx 20km) was filled with the various attractions of NYC. Apart from the ones listed above, seeing the new yorkers enjoy their sunday serves as a pleasant experience for us as we immerse ourselves in the NYC city life.

After viewing the ending of the New York Marathon (yes its like standard chartered marathon), we made our way back to Chinatown for a sumptuous dinner at a restaurant called Joe's Ginger. Check out their website @ http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/. Their xiaolongbao is really one of the best ones i've eaten so far... you can check out the dinner pictures below too.

After a tough day of trekking in NYC, i called it a day at 11pm when i waved goodbye to my friend and headed back to Philly for a midterm exam in the morning. Here are some pictures that might excite you.

On the circle line with the NYC skyline

Another view from the circle line

The tall building is HQ of goldman sachs (for you mervyn)

NYU (sterns business school)

Top of empire state building (this is where teenage mutant ninja turtles fought shredder)

View from the top of Emipre State Building
Another View from the top of Emipre State Building

Another View from the top of Emipre State Building

The New York Marathon

Xiaolongbao @ Joe's Shanghai Dumplings

Yupz... that's it for my weekend! This week will be a busy week preparing for my intervies and 2 midterms next week!

Rickett Glen Day Hike

2007-10-28T08:34:00.001+08:00

Hi all,

this is my entry about my day hike trip today (Americans call it Hike and more hiong versions as trek). It is at this place called the Rickett Glen State Park. Its seriously quite a nice place. It reminds me of berkelah and pelepah. Its basically a waterfall trek that lasts for 4 hours. Its a trail that loops around a small peak but on the way (up and down), you get to see about 22 waterfalls (small and huge ones). (un)fortunately, its autumn and its rather cold for a swim. Nonetheless, the views are kinda different from the Malaysia waterfall treks. There are seasons here so you can see yellow leaves on the deciduous plants and sometimes you can even catch the view of falling leaves. Its really quite relaxing and nice.

It would also be good to note that Americans more or less behave similar to us when they trek. They also chat with one another during the trek and their mentality are more or less similar to the people that i trek with in Singapore - diversed. Some are excited, some are experienced, some take care of others while some walk by themselves. It actually comforts me that although we're different in day-to-day culture, we're actually similar in trekking culture.

Anyway, enuff of blabbering, i was told that my blog has too much words. so here's some pics!

our route (red one, bottom up, 1 round and back)

Me and the trail

River flowing through the trail

This is a typical view you'll see on the trail

One of the waterfalls

Posing beside the waterfall

nice view with lots of yellow leaves

Another pose beside another waterfall

This is how the trail looks like

The rare sunlight that we get

The next weekend will probably be spent bringing my friend around Philadelphia and NY... yupz... New York... again...

A funny forum entry that Mervyn sent me

2007-10-26T01:43:00.000+08:00

Hi peepz, here's a forum entry that mervyn sent me... finance humour... check it out...

I'm not sure whether it is copyrighted, but let's just say its not...

*******************

THIS APPEARED ON CRAIG'S LIST

What am I doing wrong?Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful(spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy.I'm not from New York. I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes atleast half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mindthat a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't thinkI'm overreaching at all.Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Couldyou send me some tips?

I dated a business man who makes average around200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't getme to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was marriedto an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do Iget to her level? Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars,restaurants, gyms

- What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt myfeelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper eastside so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who havenothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop deadgorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the storythere?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investmentbanker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do theyhang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking forMARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults. I'm putting myself out there in an honestway. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up frontabout it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn'table to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping anice home and hearth. it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercialinterests

PostingID: 432279810

THE ANSWER

Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfullyabout your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.Firstly, I'm not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits yourbill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here's how Isee it.Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple acrappy business deal. Here's why.

Cutting through all the B.S., what yousuggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bringmy money. Fine, simple. But here's the rub, your looks will fade and mymoney will likely continue into perpetuity...in fact, it is very likelythat my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won'tbe getting any more beautiful!So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earningasset.

Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciationaccelerates! Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins inearnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buyand hold...hence the rub...marriage. It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease.

In case you think I'm being cruel, I would say the following. If my money wereto go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It's as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage. Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So,I wonder why a girl as "articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful"as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard tobelieve that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500Khasn't found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and thenwe wouldn't need to have this difficult conversation.With all that said, I must say you're going about it the right way.Classic "pump and dump."I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort oflease, let me know.

******

Quite interesting...

Yam's Kitchen Menu (newest additions)

2007-10-23T04:52:00.001+08:00

Fried beef with Beansprouts

Steamed Tofu Burgers

Another look at it

Egg Yolk Chicken

looks disgusting but tastes good (will try to improve on looks)

Chai Tao Kuey

Fried Carrot Cake (cantonese style)

Hong Shao Tofu

Cai Por Egg

Steamed Fish with Salted Beans

Chicago 5D4N - Final part

2007-10-23T04:41:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

here's the last part of my Chicago Trip... Day 4 was supposed to be the last day at Chicago. However, due to a traffic jam, I was late for my flight back to Philadelphia. As such, Airtran arranged the next possible flight to Philadelphia for us free-of-charge (not bad for a budget airline lah). The next flight was at 0545 on day 5... so i guess day 5 wasn't really that interesting too ya?

Right, here's what happened on day 4. After checking out of our hostel, Philip and I just walked around downtown to catch a last view of the city. After sending some postcards and letters, we tried to make our way to Hyde Park to check out the University of Chicago. However, as we got onto the subway, we decided to drop Chinatown a visit before we go to the university. So here's some pictures... quite a nice place... but just looks kinda standard for a Chinatown.

Chinatown

Think they were celebrating taiwan national day initially

Ok... after lunch, we made our way to the university and took some pictures before we met You An to make our way to the airport. As you know by now, we missed the plane and thus stayed a night at his friend's place. His friend's name is Yikley and we have to thank him for the one night free accomodation.

Below are some pictures from the University of Chicago. I find the place serene and highly suitable for academia... Maybe I should apply here for grad studies... haha... (for those who still don't know, i might serve my URA bond and then move on to do grad studies after). The faculty there is also very successful and famous. Here are some pictures:

Rosenwald Hall (their econs dept) - I took this photo without knowing

The all-famous Chicago Graduate School of Business

Taking a picture with the econs faculty... (hahah... their pictures)

A picture of University of Chicago's Quad

All right, that sorta concludes my Chicago trip, albeit a disappointing ending... But Chicago would definitely be a city that i recommend you guys to visit... its nice, its clean and its definitely worth visiting!

Chicago 5D4N - Part 3

2007-10-20T12:15:00.000+08:00

Day 3 (15/10/2007)
Day 3 in Chicago is by far the most intersting part of the whole trip! At around 10 in the morning, my travel buddy, Philip, and I went to rent a bike for the whole day. A whole day (i.e. 10am - 530pm) rental costs $25 for a mountain bike and its really worth it (in terms of US prices). It was a really good day for cycling and going around on a bike really gave us a superb view of Chicago.

We planned our route and decided to cycle approximately 5 to 10km north along the coast to check out the michigan lake as well as the skyline from different angles. The view along the coast was nothing less than splendid and we took some time to take pictures with the magnificent skyline.

cycling along the coast

cycling along the coast 2

posing with the wonderful skyline

Skyline silouette

another angle

After abt 1.5 hrs of cycling, we turned back to cycle into the CBD area so that we can check out the various buildings on bike. We cycled through the business district and saw the CBOT, CME, Sears Tower, etc once again. This time round, its a working day and the streets were sprawling with pedestrains. It wasn't really helpful since we arrived during lunch time. Nonetheless, the experience was still outstanding.

Sears Tower

Sears Tower 2

Planetarium

Before returning our bikes, we also visited the Chicago institute of art. It has many paintings from monet, picasso, etc. However, being an art-idiot, i really couldn't appreciate. Nonetheless, i tried my very best and found some pictures which i found really nice. Seriously, i was "appreciating" the art with layman eyes and I guess I would never be able to see it from an artistic point of view.

At around 5pm, we returned our bikes and took a short walk to the John Hancock Building. On day 1 when we went to the building, we were determined that we'll be back again. Not for the views, but for the Cheescake at the Cheesecake factory located at the ground level! Trust me, the cheesecake made by cheesecake factory was the best i've EVER eaten. Just check out this pics!

Cheesecake choices

Cheesecake Factory

John Hancock from the bottom

We ended our "last" day at Chicago by visiting rush street (their boat quay equivalent). The parenthesis for last is because I missed my flight on day 4 which made a 4D3N tour become a 5D4N tour. Anyway, back to rush street. It was really nice although it was a monday night. I found the original morton's but we didn't want to spend ALL our money on that. As we walk along the street, we admired the various restaurants and finally ended up in a posh italian restaurant. The whole meal costs about US$40 each but it was quite an experience. Live band, red wine, italian cuisine and hospitable waitresses.

The original Morton's

(left to right) Philip, Yuki (staying at our hostel), Me

Day 4 was nothing interesting except for missing the flight... will tell you guys more abt day 4 and day 5 next time...

Chicago 5D4N - Part 2

2007-10-19T11:03:00.000+08:00

Day 2 (14/10/2007)
Sunday was a bad weather day. It rained the night before and parts of the morning. This made the weather cold and windy. The initial plan was to rent a bicycle and cycle along the coast. However, due to the bad weather, we swapped the plan around and engaged in indoor activities.

The day was spent revisiting millenium park, visiting the Shedd Aquarium (which claimed to be the world's LARGEST aquarium), taking a boat cruise through Chicago River and exploring Navy Pier. In the morning, we headed to millenium park to check out the day view of the bean. This time round, Philip was around to help me take a picture of me at the bean. Shortly after exploring around millenium park, we took a slow walk to Shedd Aquarium.

Yujian @ the bean

Shedd Aquarium was indeed the largest aquarium in the world. Nonetheless, it wasn't as impressive as the other museums i've visited in NYC and other parts of the states. It did had many different aquatic life on display but they were more or less similar. The only interesting stuff i found there was the sea ottos (cute animals) and the whales. I cannot remember the type of whales that were on display but they were rather small (a bit larger than a human) relative to the "standard" whale that we think of.

At the entrance of the Shedd Aquarium

From the entrance of the Aquarium at the skyline

Big fish

Jelly Fish

Penguins at Shedd Aquarium

We bought tickets for a 330pm cruise along Chicago River. We were almost late for the cruise but fortunately, after running for abt more than 400 meters, we managed to hop onto the cruise just in time before it left the dock. The cruise was 90 minutes long and I would have to say that its really a good experience. The ticket costs US$28 (for the weekend trips) and it offers you great views of the different buildings and skyscrapers from the boat. There was also a volunteer who would tell you more abt the history of each building as well as the significance of them. All in all, this cruise is HIGHLY recommended for tourists in Chicago.

Condos along the River

Sunset View of the skyline

At the end of the day, Philip and I took a slow walk to Navy Pier. It was supposed to be one of the most famous tourist attractions (i guess its due to the nice view of the skyline). However, Philip and I both found that Navy Pier was really boring. However, we did pay 6USD to take the ferris Wheel (1 round only) to capture another view of the skyline. I didn't think it was worth it but i guess its just an experience.

Night view of the skyline from Navy Pier

Top of the Ferris Wheel

Nightview of the Skyline from the Ferris Wheel

Posing with the Ferris Wheel

Posing with the night skyline

Next up would be day 3. I find day 3 the most exciting day of the 5 days. Check it out soon!

Chicago 5D4N! - Part 1

2007-10-18T12:45:00.001+08:00

Hi all,

its has been the longest of time since i've blogged... Was kinda bored down by midterms and planning for the Chicago Trip. Anyway, now i'm back! and i want to tell you guys that Chicago is a great city for you to visit. Although it does not have times square, it has madison shopping area which is highly similar to our Orchard Road. Although it does not have outdoor activities nearby, it does have a coastal route for cycling that beats east coast park hands down. Let me just bring you guys through what happened over the past few days. But before that, let me just say that i've decided to split the tour into different parts. This way, it'll be easier to read and also easier for me to type.

Day 1 (13/10/2007)
After about 4 hrs of flight (it took extraordinarily long because i took airtran. Airtran brings us to Atlanta before to Chicago, thus explaining the longer flight time, but its much cheaper than the rest of the airlines), we finally reached Chicago. After bidding good bye to You'an (since he's meeting his friend), i made my own way to downtown Chicago. The downtown looks really nice. Its skyline consists of lots of skyscrapers (did you know that the first skyscraper was built in Chicago?). Just imagine Shenton Way multiplied by 10 times. That's downtown Chicago. Nice and Clean. As i'll be meeting up with Philip (a fellow exchange student from Germany) only at night (coz he took a later flight), i explored around downtown including CBOT, CME and other buildings. Just like Shenton Way, the place was empty during the weekends.

CBOT

CME

Screen in one of the buildings

Chicago Fed

Bridge connecting Downtown Chicago and Northern Chicago

I then made my way to Sears Tower (Tallest building in US) and visited the top of the building. Although its not the tallest building in the world (its actually the 3rd tallest after Taipei101 (1st) and Petronas Tower (2nd)), the view was breathtaking. The main reason for this is because there are tons of other skyscrapers around and being on the tallest one really gives you a good view of the whole Chicago. Together with a 360 degress viewing platform, you can see different parts of Chicago from a bird eye's view. With beautiful buildings and architecture, the view you get is like Sim City. You see a beautiful city right under your legs. It would be an architect's dream (i think) to build something here.

View from Sears Tower 1

View from Sears Tower 2

View from Sears Tower 3

I also visited the bean. Its original name is called the cloud gate and its this mercury bean-looking structure that stands in the middle of the millenium park (one of the many parks in downtown Chicago). its really nice giving you a good view of the surrounding buildings. There are also many other interesting structures in the park such as the open air theatre. It really looks quite cool.

open air theatre (panaromic with bad photo skills)

the bean (cloud gate)

the bean at night

Millenium park layout

Before meeting Philip in the evening, i bumped into Manchi along the streets (what a small world!) After meeting my Philip, I brought him around town and eventually up John Hancock Building (5th highest in the world, 3rd highest in US). After getting another breathtaking nightview of Chicago, we checked into HI-Chicago (one of the Hostelling International Franchise hostels, you guys should really stay in these hostels when you're here).

View from John Hancock Building at night

I will tell you guys more abt the next few days in the next parts... Trust me, day 2 and 3 are much more interesting...

Note: There's no pics of me on day 1 coz couldn't find people to help... next days would have more

Travel Plans!

2007-10-09T22:29:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

this entry will not contain pictures of my food... this entry is totally focused on my plans for tour for the rest of my exchange. No more waiting for interview calls and no more slacking! Time to get it going!

Anyway, here's my plan, you guys can give me advice. Anyway, i've decided to complete at least 1 activitiy from each SMUX team while I am at exchange (less diving coz its too expensive, but i've promised myself that i definitely WILL go diving next semester with SMUX). Wahaha... so far i've completed 1 kayaking event (whitewater rafting) and 1 xseed event (skydiving). Here's the rest of the plan:

Weekends Itinerary
13th Oct - 16th Oct -- Chicago
21st Oct -- Paintball (SMUX-related event)
27th Oct -- Rickett Glenns Day Hike (SMUX-related Event)
3th Nov -- Lehigh Valley Gorge Biking event (SMUX-related Event)
9th Nov - 11th Nov -- Boston
17th Nov -- Amish Town
18th Nov -- The Pinnacle Trek
22nd Nov - 25th Nov -- Toronto to visit relatives
7th Dec - 11th Dec -- Thinking abt Miami but i got a final exam on the 12th of Dec
19th Dec - 28th Dec -- West Coast (will post exact details below)

West Coast Itinerary
19th Dec - 20th Dec -- Santa Monica, LA
21st Dec -- Hollywood, LA
22nd Dec -- Downtown, LA
23rd Dec -- Las Vegas
24th Dec -- Las Vegas, Flagstaff
25th Dec - 26th Dec -- Grand Canyon
27th Dec -- Downtown, LA
28th Dec -- Santa Monica, LA

(note: i know the planning like not very good but i'm constrained by time and money)

Yupz... that's it... suggestions anyone?

I am a skydiver!

2007-10-08T05:48:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

I'm coming to the end of my weekend and I am proud to say that I have not wasted this weekend! As mentioned to some people, I went skydiving yesterday! The event was held at the Pennridge Airport (an hour's drive from UPENN). The jump cost me US$175 but seriously, its an experience of a lifetime. Now i'm really jealous of Kokpeng, Wenlong, Aaron and a few others who went to Australia for their AFF.

I only had 1 Tandem jump but it was really an experience that is different from anything I've ever experienced. With my trusty sunto watch, i timed the whole course from the time the plane took off to the time i landed. It took only 22mins but the whole experience was exhilarating.
Let me just show you a graph:

As you can see, the plane brought us to about 4100+ meters where we headed for our jump. As it was a tadem jump, i was strapped with my instructor chris (see his picture below) and we slowly waddled to the exit. On a count of 3, he threw both of us out of the plane and did a backflip showing me the bottom of the plane. After about 2 secs, we were flat on our belly enjoying the freefall. I experienced about a minute of freefall. The first half of the minute was just spent looking around and experience the "wind" in your face. Its really impt to tell you guys that there was no G force on me. I was told that in skydiving, you reach terminal velocity very quickly and you would not feel that G force (for those who don't understand the feeling of G force, its the b*lls-shrink feeling). The next half a minute was spent looking at the view below.

The instructor and I constantly looked at the altitude to make sure that we pull our parachute in time. When we reached around 1000 meters (i.e. 3000 ft), he pulled the parachute and we were cruising in the air. He also gave me a chance to manoveure the chute. Pulling the right cord sends you spinning rightwards and the left cord does the same thing on the left side. We spent about 5 minutes looking at the nice view before we finally landed smoothly on the ground. All in all, it was an experience of a lifetime!

Here's some pics of the trip. Unfortunately, getting a video and pictures of me skydiving would cost $109 and I decided not to. Thus, you guys wouldn't be able to see me flying through the sky... haha...

Pennridge Airport

Pics in Skydiving Office

My friends who jumped with me from the same menifest

(Joshua, Shervin & Me)

Leaving for my jump

Just Before our Jump

Some other skydiver

Some other skydiver landing

My Instructor & I

Last but not least, I bought myself a new rice cooker (because the old one was on a wrong voltage and I couldn't cook well with it). The new one had a steamer with it. Thus, i've now started to engage in healthier food.

Cheese Tofu (failure)

Steam Beef Cake

Fried Rice

Steam Egg

Ok guys, till next time! I've got 3 midterms coming up (2 tomorrow and 1 on wed). See ya guys soon!

SMUX Elections & How to make a Decision

2007-10-05T03:01:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

i know this blog is about my life in US while SMUX, at this moment of time, is not part of my life. Nonetheless, I have really been keeping close contacts with some of my friends in Singapore to still get an understanding of the SMUX Elections. Before I continue, I would just like to congratulate all those who get into crew and remind those who didn't get in that SMUX is made up of every single one of us.

During my past 3 years in SMUX, i've seen many different types of people. I've seen people who truly believed in the outdoors and have lived their lives with adventure. Some of them are crewies and some of them are not. The most important lesson that I think all of us should take away from SMUX is to develop our passion for the outdoors. With regards to passion, I feel that passion is not something that can be described. Its not something that should be conveyed in words, its your act that tells others how much you believe in something. Stop telling people how passionate you are about something. Your actions will tell.

This brings me to how decisions are being made in life. Recently, I am faced with many dilemmas and this is what that has got me to start thinking about decision making all over again. Making a decision in a firm is totally different from making a decision for your OWN life. This is because when you make a decision in a firm, the act itself affects EVERYONE related to the firm (think BGS - Stakeholder theory) . But when it comes to making individual decisions, I affirm that we should do what we LIKE and not what others tell us to do!

Personally, I feel that as long as it doesn't harm others, we should always seek to pursue the course of action that maximizes our satisfactions (think maximizing utility functions). In our lives, we are constantly succumbing to the messages sent by mere social constructs around us, and have more or less lost ourselves. But I just want to remind everyone that we are who we define ourselves to be. Remember that. Stop trying to be someone else, just be yourself!
On the other hand, some people make decisions by weighing the pros and cons. This is what I call the effect of Singpaore's education. When we write GP essays or papers for our courses, we are always very compelled to present both sides of the story so as to show the people who grade our papers that we have thought through the situation. Although this is highly applicable for decision making in firms (because there are graders out there, your stakeholders), I strongly argue against doing this when it comes to choosing paths in our personal lives.

Frankly, there are millions of reasons that are pro and millions of reasons that are cons. The crux of doing an analysis before decision making is to think through these reasons so that you are making an "informed" decision. BUT, it is NOT POSSIBLE to think through every single reason and even if you think as long as you can, the reasons you have listed is just a small fraction of ALL the reasons (or variables) out there! Thus, I feel that we should always do something because we LOVE it, or when we feel that its something we like, albeit constrained by the fact that our decision should not affect others.

Sorry for the ranting, but for those who constantly come to my blog for a peak on my food menu, here's some of the different dishes i've made recently:

Chicken Breasts with Shrimp Paste Sauce

Fried Eggs with Shrimps

Fried Tofu with Bean Sprouts & Roast Pork

Ma Po Tofu

Fried 3 Treasures (with rice)

- its fried chicken, fried mushrooms and fried prawns

From US with LOVE

(steamed salted chicken, panfry luncheon meat with sunny side up)

This is made by my Hong Kong Friend L

(Tomato Pork Chop & Brinjal with Fish Sauce)

Yupz! That's it from US... Everyone jia you! Its time to bring SMUX to greater heights...

(Note: i really want to go Datuk!)

"Chase your Dreams... Heirarchy is Nothing... Passion is Everything... "

- famous SMUX Member

My first movie in the US

2007-10-01T05:10:00.001+08:00

Harlow everyone,

I've finally watched a movie! It has been damn long since i've stepped into a cinema (even back in Singapore). As i could not stand staying in my room any more, I decided to jio janan and kieran to watch a movie. The show was damn expensive (US$12 for friday night to sunday andUS$8.50 for weekdays). But nonetheless, we caught the 12midnight show @ 40th street (5mins walk to my place) on Friday and I really loved the show!

The show is called "Good Luck Chuck" and its a really hilarious show! The story has a sex-theme about this guy who was hexed by his childhood friend. Ever since, everytime he has sex with a girl, that girl would find her true love the next day and get married. So he's quite a poor thing since he can never marry anyone. One day, he found his true love Cam (jessica alba) and the story develops from there. I realy enjoyed the show cause here in US, it was totally uncensored and they were really creative in using sex to crack jokes... It was really funny! Right, I just found out that the show is rated R21 in Singapore but you guys should really go see the show, please do go and watch it! I've attached a picture of the show here... go watch it! (check out the movie website @ www.goodluckchuckthemovie.com/)

Tiring week

2007-09-28T10:07:00.001+08:00

This week has been really tiring for me... There is this thing in my economics course that is really beneficial for student's learning but really turns out to be the student's nightmare. For my economics course, there is a weekly quiz and this encourages students to revise their work every week... I guess its fine for me since its still quite math driven in the first few weeks... but nonetheless, it took me some time to study for the quiz on monday.

I had my first spanish quiz on wednesday and it seems like it didn't turn out very well... i couldn't do some part of the quiz and that didn't feel too good... I guess one of the main reasons is that i couldn't get much good sleep on tue night. I was having a job interview on wednesday (don't ask me with who coz i din get the job) and that probably caused me some sleep.

Anyway, just in case i don't sound coherent, i guess its coz i'm kinda tired... got quite a bit of stuff to do this week... haha... but the good thing is that weekend's coming and I'm going to be able to get a good sleep on friday night! haha...

Initially was planning for a DC trip but was cancelled last minute as You An left for a conference. Nonetheless, next week will be skydiving and i'm pretty excited about it! will update you guys about it next week! haha...

Just to end my post as I normally would, this is my menu for the past few days:

Yam's Kitchen Menu for 24th to 27th September

Fried Spaghetti with Salmon

western Nasi Lemak (i.e. substitute ikan bilis with panfried salmon)

虾酱鸡 with rice + 0.5 腊肠

(seriously, the 虾酱鸡 was really good... comparable to some 煮炒摊位)

Cooked tofu with pork and prawns... looks delicious right!

Yupz... that's it!

A successful attempt

2007-09-25T11:21:00.000+08:00

Hey guys,

nothing much is coming along... i'm trying hard to work on my food... this entry is going to be short... just want to show you my successful attempt... chicken chop with spaghetti (with eggs)... wahaha...

New York Saturday

2007-09-24T09:40:00.000+08:00

¡Hola Amigos!

As promised, i will be showing you guys pics of my new york trip. Seriously, being back in NYC for the second time in a month isn't really exciting. Same places, same people. I don't think i'll go back to NYC anytime soon.

Anyway, the day started at around 0845 when Ivy, Janan, Kieren and I met at my place. After taking a short trolley ride to 30th Street, we boarded the P2P (Philadelphia <-> New York PENN Station) bus. Its really not that expensive with 25 bucks return tickets. After my 2-hour nap, we arrived at New York City Penn Station (i.e. 34th Street), beside Madison Square Garden. With Janan strongly demanding to go check out the statue of liberty, i brought them towards wall street where he could take photos with both the bull and the statue of liberty. Problem came when we arrived at wall street. The skies turned dark and it started to rain. The drizzle slowly grew and eventually became a downpour. As we sought shelter near battery park, i left the group to meet renhua for lunch.

Lunch with renhua was really good. After many years, i finally get to meet up with him for a small chat. Really appreciated that we could meet up and talk abt everything from the past to the future. Thanks dude!

After lunch with renhua, i joined back the group at times square. Times Square was a bit different from when i was there with may. Firstly, there was the naked cowboy. Basically, he's an artiste who stands in the middle of Times Square wearing only briefs and carrying a guitar. He was quite an icon for times square. Hoardes of Ang Moh women rushed towards him and gave him tips to take pictures with them. I guess the Ang Mohs are really kinda open. The second thing different about times square was that there was a pasar malam along 7th avenue. The Pasar Malam was really big but the stuff was damn expensive. Imagine a corn dog for US$5? Siao bo...

Other places where we visited in Times Square included M&Ms shop, Hershey shop and other shops. Anyway, there was this machine in M&Ms that was supposed to test the type of personality (represented by a color) you had. Keiren bet that it would be orange (stereotype of a smux lover). As we were all curious, i stepped on the platform to get my personality tested. After being "scanned" by the machine, i was told that my color is "dark pink" and that i am friendly and amable. Wahah... how true indeed =]

The day ended with some shopping and eventually a dinner opposite madison square garden. The dinner totally sucked. It was an italian fast food restaurant. I ordered a small plate of pasta and a large root beer. I paid freaking 10+ USD for it... it really sucked. Fortunately for me, mine was one of the cheapest. Meatball pasta cost Kieran about 12+ USD. Janan paid 15+ for Alfredo pasta with 2 meatballs... totally expensive and totally disgusting.

All right, so here's a summary of the places that I've been in NYC:
1) Madison Square Garden
2) Wall Street (NYSE + the Bull)
3) Chelsea District for lunch
4) Times Square
5) Manhattan Mall
6) Borders @ Madison Square Garden

Here's some pics:

NYSE

NASDAQ @ Times Square

The "Pasar Malam" @ 7th Avenue

The Naked Cowboy @ Times Square

Picture of Me (baby wanna see right?)

I'm a dark pink M&Ms!

Time to do some boxing!

Last but not least, let me once again show you some pictures of the food i've cooked recently... seems like food is getting better! haha...

Fried Pasta with Turkey and Cheese

Fried Pasta with Corn Beef (Served with 1 piece chicken)

Potato Stew... this really tastes nice... nicer than the one my mum made!

rightz... so what can we look forward to this week? 1 Spanish Quiz, 1 Econs Quiz and 1 Interivew... bleahz!

Life this week is so-so

2007-09-21T02:27:00.000+08:00

Hi all (¡Hola Amigos!),

note: most stuff in brackets are in spanish

life after white water rafting is not exactly very interesting (interesante). Its the same process everyday. As the classes (clases) at PENN is quite spread out, i don't get to travel (viajar) much here except during weekends (sábado y domingo)! What a bummer! I guess its also clear that i'm trying to work on my spanish (español). I'm having my first spanish quiz next wed (Miércoles). haha...

Nonetheless, there are stuff this week (semana) that i look forward to. I'm applying for jobs here and the interviews (entrevista) will be scheduled by this friday (viernes). Let's hope i can get a least a few interviews. I'm quite pessimistic (pesimista) about it though.

The next thing that i look forward to is the weekend. So far, i think i might be heading down to new york city on saturday (sábado) just to chill out... nonetheless, nothing is really confirmed yet. sianz... =(

Anyway, the main part of this post is to show you guy some new creations i made this week (semana). Anyway, i think cooking is the only thing that motivates me (mí) nowadays... wahaha... (food names are in brackets)

Fried Macaroni with Turkey and Cheese

Wanton Mee with Guo Tie and Hot Dogs (When the east meets the west)

Rice with meetballs, prawns, mushrooms and sunny side up

(Rising sun over the seas)

Looks like chao guo tiao right? haha... its just fried turkey with rice

Tomato cooked with eggs and meat (my mum taught me how to cook this)

Finally, Yujian's 香鸡排

Yupz... i'll update you guys about this weekend next week then! ¡Adíos!

Weekend of Fun...

2007-09-17T10:46:00.000+08:00

Hey peepz,

it has been 2 days since i've updated my blog... there is someone who actually msned me and ask me why i haven't been updating my blog... hmmm... no worries! here i am back to update my blog! Right, my weekend has just ended and its time to hit the books. I've got a quiz tomorrow (i.e. around 12hrs down) but i guess it should be rather easy considering that it's only a 15min quiz. Anyway, the weekend was really eventful but really tiring...

Basically, i spent the WHOLE of saturday shopping @ franklin mills. Its an outlet factory shopping mall where you can get cheap stuff. I went with 3 other guys (kieren, you an and janan (janan is an exchange student from university of queensland)) and we shopped from 1030am to around 9pm. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, I didn't really buy anything. I only bought the following:
1) 2 x manicure sets @ US$20 each (for you-know-who)
2) 1 x mini-mantle that attaches to my bed @ US$10
I also received a gift from Kieren, a laddle set for me to cook (worth US$1)

Here's some pics:

this is a cool machine. basically, it challenges you to think about whether a coin's weight has to do with the speed it ROLLS down the thing above. There is a hole in the center and basically what you're supposed to do is to release 2 different size coins from identical points on both sides of the circle and see which falls through the hole first. We're supposed to test whether heavier (i.e. bigger coins) rolls down faster. This question is different from the one that Galileo (double check whether its him) did. Its not a freefall question but a question about coins ROLLING down... my hypothesis is that the big coin will fall in first but the reason is because of a larger circumference and not due to its weight... that means that although the bigger coin will fall faster, its due the its larger circumference leading it to cover larger ground per unit time. After doing some checking, we realize that the bigger coin does indeed fall faster. Anyway, it is also clearly marked as a "NOT non-profit item". This means that the "inventor" of this machine is making money from it (the money that you use to test the hypothesis and lose it at the end). All right.. here's more pics...

franklin mills entrance

lunch... really doesn't look appetizing right... and it costs US$5.95

A skatepark INSIDE franklin mills... SMUX should have this built in school...

Ok... up next is my White Water Rafting trip on Sunday. The whole event was from 8am and ended around 8pm for my group. It was @ Lehigh River Gorge and you can check out the website at http://www.whitewaterchallengers.com/... The trip was not bad and the way the University of Pennsylvania Outdoor Club (UPOC) organized it was quite different from my experience in SMUX. It was less structured and more free-flowing. Basically, after we met up in the morning, we just hang around to chat. This time, 4 people were driving and we randomly divided ourselves into the 4 vehicles. We then started a 2+hr self-navigated (navigation done by my fren Roman - see the tall & big guy at the back of the pictures below) to the Lehigh River Gorge whitewaterchallengers area.

When we reached there, it was all settled by the group (i.e. the vehicle group) themselves. Although we hung around at the same areas and sorta chatted with one another, we kinda stick within our own groups. After checking-in, getting our wetsuits and equipment, we waiting a while for a transportation to bring us to the start point. The briefing was done by professional instructors (they really remind me of the PA Instructors) and we were ready to set off. As much as the river was not as hiongz as the one I did in Nepal with the EBC team, it was still quite fun. What was most impressive was that I see ALOT and i really mean ALOT of white water kayakers. They were all in those stunt boats (check out the pics, its those super small ones) and they were chionging down the river... its really quite fun... the level of this part of the river is still quite low and i think you don't really need to know eskimo rolls... in fact, i see open deck kayaks around.... hmm... maybe next time i should go check it out...

check out the kayaks!

kayakers' silhouettes

my raft's crew (les Janan)

my raft's crew (less me)

me...

i really want to tell you guys more about the trip but i'm kinda in a hurry now since i haven't bathed since i got back! eee.... So last but not least, the standard thing that i usually end my blog with... my dinner on friday... its fried rice with western hao jian... wahahah....

fried rice with western haojian (i.e. omellete with mushroom & cheese)

right... seeya guys!

Good deals!

2007-09-14T06:34:00.000+08:00

Harlow everyone!

i'm really motivated to blog today due to 2 reasons:
1) I've made very good deals today
2) I've made very good lunch today

Haha... okiez, before i touch on the issues above, let me just show you guys some pictures of UPENN. I took a walk around school today and shot some pics. But i'm only showing you guys some pictures which I think you might be interested in seeing.

Jon Huntsman Hall (this is School of Wharton's building)

This is building is the representation of Wharton on postcards and pictures

the quad... this is the park in the center of the freshmen's accomodation

the quad from another view

Good deals
Ok, next up are the deals. There is this shop near my place that is called Eastern Mountain Sports (http://www.ems.com/). They are clearing out and moving to a bigger place. As such, they have clearance sales! In US, the clearance are like damn hiongz. They put a ADDITIONAL 70% OFF on the lowest price tag. So i picked up 3 very very very good deals. They are (see pictures below for more details):

1) Outdoor Research Gortex Hat (US$8.99)

2) Northface Cotton Cap (US$x.xx)

3) EMS Dri-fit Cap (US$x.xx)

the two caps are meant as presents... so i cannot tell you the price. however, all i can say its that its damn cheap... wahahaha!!!

Anyway, i also refunded by Derivatives textbook (coz i think the prof don't really use it too) and got back US$135.85... wahahah!!!

There's another good deal that i found... OIP (Penn's OIR equivalent) has decided to clear the stuff that the last batch has left behind. They asked us to go and grab whatever we want and they'll throw away the rest. wahaha... I found lots of stuff man.. I should have just grabbed everything and hold a sale! But in the end I (only) grabbed:

1) 1 professional looking dustbin

2) 3 china plates

3) 1 seperator (those for washing vegetables)

4) 1 sock hanger

5) 1 table lamp

6) 1 power extension

7) 1 electric kettle (those that boil damn fast)

yupz... wahaha.. that's it!!!Good Lunchokiez... next up is my lunch... i tried to be a little creative today and fried an omellete. I started with only prawns... but in the end added cheese too! whoa... its damn nice... let me show you guys!

Prawn Omellete with Cheese

my lunch...

Ok peepz... that's it! seeya guys soon!

Life on Campus

2007-09-12T09:07:00.000+08:00

Life has actually been quite ok here at Penn...

Basically, my life only revolves around a few things:
1) Going for class
2) Reading up for class
3) Writing cover letters for job applications
4) Reading up for PLEASURE
5) Exercising
6) COOKING!!!

Travelling has not come in because school only just started and I want to make sure that job application season is more or less settled before I start travelling around... Basically, here's my plan:

Tour Plan
Chicago - Fall Break (between 13th and 16th October)
Boston - trying to steal a weekend for a quick getaway
Toronoto - Thanksgiving (spend with family members)
Los Angeles - After term (it is already confirmed)
Las Vegas?
Yosemite Park?
Other parts of west coast?

Ok anyway, the thing is that i have already rescheduled my return flight to Singapore to fly back from LA. I will also be transiting at Taipei (for obvious reasons) for around 6 days before flying back to Singapore. Thus, this gives me the days between 19th December and 30th December to spend at the west coast... i wonder where I can go... suggestions anyone?

Ok... the next part of my blog is as usual dedicated to Yam's Kitchen... haha... let me just show everyone what i cooked for lunch and dinner today... Lunch was Chinese while Dinner was WESTERN!!! wahaha....

Yam's Kitchen Menu for September 11th 2007

LUNCH MENU

Fried Prawns with Bean Sprouts and Mushrooms (Harvest of the 3 treasures)

DINNER MENU

Fried Chicken with Embeded Cheese

(doesn't really look nice but the taste is real good)

Here's the ingredients:

Ok... anyway, the dinner is really nice... out of some luck, the chicken was just nice (i.e. soft and tender) and the cheese melted nicely into the chicken meat... seriously... its the best meal i've made so far... woohoo!!!

Life is getting mundane

2007-09-11T11:03:00.000+08:00

Hi all,
its me again... life's getting really mundane recently... Although I have only 4 courses, the number of hours per week totals up to 14 hours (which is only 1 hour short of 5 mods). The reason is because my spanish class happens for 1 hour everyday (i.e. 5 hours in the week). Nonetheless, i enjoy my spanish class and I think my spanish is improving.

Anyway, after almost 1 week of classes at UPENN, all i have to say is that people here are really vocal. Although there are no class participation scores, UPENN students have been constantly asking question so that they can understand their stuff better. Kudos! I think that's the spirit and not asking questions for class participation. I would be happy if class participation were to become a lesser part the final grade back in SMU. It has messed up some people's minds thinking that everyone out there is trying to talk for marks (although some are). Asking for knowledgei think is a very impt part of education. I was taught that "学问，学问" if you want to 学, then you must 问! Let's all remember that asking for knowledge is the underlying reason for class participation. Scores are an extrinsic motivation which should not change your underlying actions... remember that...

Anyway, back to the students in UPENN, i think the reason why they ask good questions is because they have good experience. I really don't want to go back and write a long paper about the perpetuating wealth of the rich or the congregation of the well-off. Nonetheless, I guess that's the fact in life. With the rich enrolled in the same school as the rich, the rich will only get smarter (due to the availability of exposure opportunities). I guess these people had more opportunities than the whole asia put together and that's the reason for intelligent questions in class.

Oh! I also want to mention that I'm really happy that I can read much faster now than before! I have completed 2 books while I am here at UPENN. 2 interesting books (1 x non-fiction and 1 x fiction). The first book is called liar's poker and i'm sure many finance students have read this. I strongly recommend this books to those who are interested in Sales and Trading and would like to know more about the origination of the Asset Bank Securities / mortgages bonds (which is also the problem leading to credit crunch now) and high yield debt. The 2nd book is called "Flowers for Algernon". Due to strong recommendation from May, i embarked on a journey to finish my FIRST-EVER fiction book, and OMG... its really damn nice... I was so touched I almost cried when i finish the book... Its really a nice book exploring things ranging from ethics to psychology and from sex to love... I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!

Anyway, for those who are worried that i might grow fat, i just want to assure you guys that i still exercise. For the past 5 days, i've exericsed 3 days (2 x swim of 30 x 50m and 1 x 5km run). I will continue to exercise so that i would not be putting on too much weight.

Nonetheless, i am still continuing to be ambitious with my cooking and here's some pictures to show you my recent meals:

Yam's Kitchen Menu:

Fried Beef with Eggs and Onion & Rice (When the Chicken meets the "Hen (ham)")

The rising sun reflected in the ocean
(Noodles with prawns, lettuce, hot dog and half-boiled egg)

guo tie (yes i made it)

Some Restaurant that the few of us ate in

fish maw soup with crab meat

fried beef kuay teow

xiao long bao

Ok folks! That's it! seeya next time!

End of the First Week

2007-09-08T08:11:00.001+08:00

Hey peepz,

it seems like time's getting a bit more loose for me... that's why i can start blogging more often. Anyway, today's blog will not really be talking about the first week of class but more about the surrounding environment of UPENN.

You guys probably already know about the class situation (i.e. Wharton is really competitive... trust me, SMU is really not as competitive, although its getting near) Now let me just show you a picture of my Econs classroom. Its a little better than the Spanish classroom but not much better off...

Econs Classroom (Fisher-Bennet Hall)

All right... next up, let me just show you some pictures of the school:

Campus Green

(yes! they also have a campus green... people play games and stuff on the green)

i wonder whether we copied their name... hmmm... trust me, there are lots of stuff in SMU that looks like those in UPENN... i really wonder...

one of the frat houses... they all have greek names

You guys might want to find out more about frat(ernity) houses... all i've HEARD about them so far is that people organize parties (sometimes closed door ones) and they just get wasted and eventually get laid... i've got no personal experience in this but i heard that this is what they called American culture... Of course, there are fraternities that organize meetings and just hang out... i guess its just some that are like that... but anyway, personally, i'm not into this...

one of the high rises (dormitories)

I thinks its like the PGP of NUS... basically i've been to my friend's room and take a look... its actually ok... a little smaller than my room just that the building is newer than mine... however, its really more expensive than mine... compared to mine, a similar type of room will cost about US$4200+ per sem while mine costs US$2600+. hmmm... not worth it i think...

Next up is due to "popular" request... however, i'm sure you guys would be interested in this... UPENN's climbing wall! The thing is that i don't think they have panels... no panels at all... so maybe cannot change... but really, it looks nice... its 4 storeys high and the top of the building is a glass ceiling so you can see the sky... makes it feel like really wall... anyway, it has protruding parts on every route... i've seen beginners climb it... for rainbow routes, it seems easy... maybe i should go try it out...

the wall from the bottom

the wall from the top

the top part of the wall

told you about the ceilings

rockclimber trying to climb

one more look from the bottom...

all right... just to share with you guys, i've decided to sign up for 3 outdoor activities this semester at UPENN. They are (in chronological order):

1) Deleware Canoe Trip (29th September, 8am - 5pm, US$75)

2) Appalachian Trail Day Hike (27th October, 930am - 6pm, US$30)

3) Lehigh Bike Trip (3rd November, 9am - 5pm, US$80)

All of the above are non-member prices, comes with rental and shuttles to & fro UPENN. Seriously, outdoor activites here are damn expensive man... but the outdoor products here are really damn cheap! haha... *recalls my scoop at Northface outlet shop*

Speaking about outlet shops, i'll be visiting franklin mills tomorrow. Its one of the outlet shops at Philadelphia. I'll try to buy stuff from there. But if you guys need to buy anything, please visit www.ems.com. There is a shop below my accomodation. I can help you guys buy... but weight might be a problem...

All right, last but not least, here's my lunch today... I named it "conquering the seas and the continents". May named my ramen (see previous post) as "Swimming Turkey"... hahah... okies, that's it folks!

conquering the seas and the continents (US$1.75)

(contains eggs, prawns, turkey ham and rice)

Chao Amigos!

First Day of Classes at Penn

2007-09-07T03:03:00.001+08:00

Hey peepz,

its been really long since i've updated my blog right! i'm so sorry! Anyway, life at UPENN is really kinda busy... not really because of work but rather because of the amount of activities you have... In fact, the classes are really quite ok... so let me start by telling you more about my classes.

Classes

I'm taking 4 modules this sem and they are: Financial Derivatives, Spanish, Special Topics in Macroeconomics: Family Economics, and Venture Capital & Entrepreneurial Mgmt.

Seriously, the people in Wharton and not in Wharton are really very very different... the facilities are also very different... here's the pictures of a standard classroom in non-Wharton classes (that's my Macroecons & Spanish Classes, pictures are from my Spanish Classroom):

students sat on these chairs

they still use overhead projectors

they still use BLACKBOARDS (actually Wharton still use blackboards)

Wharton Facilities are EXACTLY the same as SMU. I wonder who gave SMU the idea to the seminar classrooms... they look the same and everything... just that i think our technology is a little bit more advanced...

Anyway, what's more important is the people in the classes... They're really different... Let me tell you about my Financial Derivatives class. The prof was asking us to introduce ourselves and tell us whether we had experience in derivatives. 1/2 of the class were saying something along these lines "My name is XXX. I spent my summer { (1) trading derivatives / commodities (2) interning at a arbitrage desk (3) doing investment banking, etc } in XXX (most are big names such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, etc". You don't even hear banks like Credit Suisse, Barclays, etc... One of the funniest reply i heard from an Indian girl was, "I was interning at Goldman Sachs Investment Banking, so I don't have experience in derivatives". She sounded like her internship is so-so only... I haven't finish...

1/4 of the class was MBA students... yes, this is a cross-listed class (i.e. mixed with MBA). most of them were traders or working in S&T departments in big corporations... haha... but they sound like nice people... just that they're just damn hiongz...

the rest of the 1/4 of the class was people like me. Know a bit about derivatives but no real experience in it... of course, they were minimal people who are not finance majors but these are really the minority of the minority...

So far, the most interesting class is Spanish... the class is taught in Spanish and i'm totally lost in class! Americans will definitely get in touch with a bit of Spanish in their lives because US is ranked 5th based on the number of people who speaks Spanish. Anyway, i'm still learning... its just the second class... i'm really not that good... i can now pronounce how the alphabets and simple stuff like Buenos Diaz (good morning), Buenas Thordes (good afternoon), Buenas Norches (good evening)... also simple things like como te llamas (what's your name), me llamo yujian (my name is yujian)... something like that...

That's about it for classes... next, let's talk about the facilities...

Facilities
The facilities here are really great... just imagine dorm-life university (i.e. NUS and NTU) but really much more complete with city stuff and such... They have a DAMN nice gym and climbing wall... I'm sure the climbers would definitely prefer this wall to ours... it looks more like a natural wall... i think i'll go and take some pictures and show you... but in the mean time, let me show you the stadium... its called the Franklin Field...

are you reminded of National Satdium?

seriously, at the first look, i tot the stadium is bigger than national stadium... after some checking, i realize that the size is the SAME as national stadium... (NEW Singapore National Stadium capacity = 55,000, Franklin Field Stadium capacity = 52,000) what the hell... and trust me, this stadium serves UPENN... Philadelphia has another stadium... but then again, i was told that this is the oldest 2-tier stadium in US.

Other facilities are actually ok only... in fact, i realize that in terms of technology infiltration, US is actually slower than many asian countries... this is one point that actually mystifies me... but i guess its because of the large fixed costs that were incurred long ago and they need to fully depreciate it before rebuilding... unlike Singapore where the good look of the buildings and technology is very very important...

My Room and My Food
Last but not least, i'll show you guys some pictures of my room and my food... actually, i think my room is really quite nice... I've furnished it to look quite homely and stuff... i don't mind chilling in my room... it just needs a bit more stuff on the ground for people to lie around or sit around...

my food shelf

my dressing cupboard and cooking utensils / bookshelf

my study table...

my bed

my US$125 / semester rented fridge...

inside of the fridge...

Remember my entry about not being able to cook? I brought an electric stove here and i've been secretly cooking in my room... haha... it really saves me a lot of money!!! as compared to a typical meal that costs about 5 to 6 US dollars, my food rocks! tastes nice too!

my beef ramen with egg (US$1.50)

my tepanyaki with egg rice (US$1.25)

Wahaha... all right guys... till then! seeya!

Atlantic City 3D2N & Washington DC 2D1N

2007-09-01T01:13:00.000+08:00

Hey guys,

i've decided to finish up the last parts of my tour in one entry so that I can quickly update you guys on my life on campus. I've already arrived on campus for almost a week and not MUCH has happened... Anyway, this entry is not abt campus but rather about Atlantic City and DC. So let's take a look.

After Toronto, we took greyhound and headed all the way back to Philadelphia. We then changed NJ Tranist which only caused us about US$13.25 to reach Atlantic City. The trip was quick. About an hour only. At this moment of time, it is impt to tell those who do not know that Atlantic City is just like Sentosa. Just add Casinos and Factory Outlets to Sentosa and you get Atlantic City. It's actually quite a nice place.

What i remember most about the place is that it has a lot of Casinos but they are all providing same services. I really wonder how they differentiate and why are all of them usually full. Anyway, the answer to the first question is probably through the different themes. But the themes has got no correlation to the type of gambling you have inside. Its just slots, table games, slots, and more slots. haha....

here's some pictures of the place:

casesar's palace

wild wild west inside Bally's (it's also a casino)

The casinos are filled with old people. Retirees i guess. Some of them are wheelchair bound but as long as their hands can reach the button the spin the slots, they're still in it... wth.... 2 more things abt atlantic city is the factory outlets. Its big... good and cheap. I din buy much though. I only bought a GUESS wallet... wahha... at US$12.50... wth...

Nike Factory Outlet

The other thing i remember are the buffets. All the big hotels are offering buffets at dirt cheap prices. Its between US15 to US20. Comparing this to Singapore levels, its really cheap, bearing in mind how much more expensive other food is comparing to Singapore.

Okiez... quickly, let's move on the DC. Seriously, DC is a boring place. Fortunately, apart from tons of governmental buildings, you still have many museums and monuments that provided us with 2 days of entertainment. The reason why i say its boring is because if you were a resident there, you'll be damn sian. When i was there on Saturday, ALL SHOPS WERE CLOSE! cannot find food, cannot find drinks... tell me about it man... nonetheless, food trucks are always available near monuments and tourist attractions... hmmm...

but seriously, the monuments and musuems are worth a visit. I went to the Washington Memorial, the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, the White House, IMF, Central Bank and the Holocaust Musuem. I think the Holocaust Musuem is a must go man... remember that... But no photos inside so cannot show you all... but it tells you all much about the Holocaust.

Abraham Lincolm Memorial

Abraham Lincoln

George Washington Memorial

IMF... what else?

White House from afar.... the president is in JAIL....

---- DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN US HISTORY ----

Anyway, a trip to DC helped me gain much knowledge about American History. In fact, it prompted me to start reading about it... its really cool. Let me just show off a bit here lah hor... America declared independence on 4th of July 1776. But this was not easy. After all the state representatives signed the declaration of independence in Pennsylvania (the first Capitol of US), the British (the original colonial owners of America) attached them. War lasted long and the leading general for America is none other then first president George Washington (it was later agreed by everyone that the first general that won the war would be president). George Washington only became president in 1789 when the victorious Americans met for the first time...

Ok... advancing forward, why then is Abraham Lincoln so important too? There was a period of Civil war in the states during the mid 1800s. Abraham Lincoln was the president at the point of time and he was the one who order forces to attach the southern states (they were for slavery at that point of time). Since he won the war, he's the most celebrated because he "unified" US on the issue of black slavery. He was unfortunately assasinated during his 2nd term in office.

The next most impt person to remember is Thomas Jefferson. The 3rd President of US. He is actually an impt person because he was the guy who drafted the constitution. For those who have read a constitution before, you probably understand how difficult it is to WRITE one.

There are lots of characters that I find very interesting but I guess I have to stop here or you guys will kill me...

---- END OF AMERICAN HISTORY 101 ----

The last stop was back in Phily, which i guess its only admin and setting up of my room. will show you guys my room in the next post then!

Toronto 3D2N

2007-08-28T23:53:00.000+08:00

The ride there was already covered... it was freaking long... but anyway, after 13 whole hrs of bus ride, i finally reached salvation. The first person i saw when i peered out of the bus was my dearest grandmother. It has been about 2 years since i've last seen her. She's really a nice grandma. She's actually quite cute. Here's a picture of her on my last day. I treated her to ice cream.

my beloved grandma

anyway, Toronto was characterized by food and more food. I guess that's what my family's famous for. Stuffing visitors with food. haha... But i think the greatest thing is that we get to meet a really nice group of people. Frankly, i haven't seen my uncle and auntie (who are both citizens of Canada) for more than 15 years. To be able to meet up with them, has been one of the most exciting part of this trip. Not to mention, i can finally meet up with my grandfather. The last time i saw him was when i was 10 years old. Once again, another 15 years apart.

The 3 days spent in Toronto is well worth it. We went around eating. The main reason for this is because my grandfather is highly interested in eating. As an old man, he really has a great appetite. This might sound crazy but he eats MORE THAN ME! Nonetheless, he's not exactly in a very good condition. He is sometimes in a blur state of mind while sometimes in a clear state of mind.

Here's pictures of the people mentioned:

(left to right): grandma, uncle tom, grandpa, auntie mavis

my grandparents, may and I

(left to right): Auntie Mavis, Uncle Michael & Cousin Clayton

Although the most important part of Toronto is the people, here's the places we visited:

On the first day, we visited the harbour & downtown. Its really a super nice view. As it was sunday, there was a mardi gras and filipinos were dressed in their traditional costume travelling along the streets of the harbour. It was a carnival! No pictures on the carnival but i can show you the lake!

On the second day, the primary mission was to bring my grandpa around to eat. I can see that he wants to spend more time eating with me. He wants to see more of us before we left. As we'll be gone for the whole day on the 3rd day, this was his only chance. So, we brought him out for the whole day! we went around shopping but of course he just sat there just to enjoy the crowd. We saw shops which were typical of business case studies and can only be found in north america, like walmart! haha...

The third day is by far the rushest day but also one of the days we enjoyed ourselves the most. We went to niagara falls! The trip took Uncle Tom 2 hrs of drive but we finally reached there. Initially, I thought Niagara falls was just a waterfall there for you to see and maybe touch. But i was wrong! there were casinos and many shops! it was like a mini broadway! We really had fun! we took the Maiden of the Mist (a ship) to toured within the falls... Its just like it brought you into an area that was raining and back... haha but the views were great!

Yupz... next stop will be Atlantic City!!!

Good Bye my Friend...

2007-08-26T22:29:00.000+08:00

You have been an inspiration for me back during the army days. I remember those days when i was a young a haughty officer and you guided me towards the right path. You were an important colleague but more importantly, you were a good friend. Till this day, i can still remember the days when we conducted exercises together and we went to your house to stay after conducting range. Your death came unexpected and I was apalled by your death when Mike smsed me.

You were one of the fittest guys that i ever knew. I remember we called you the alpha male and you were really athletical. You were a humble man with a a loyal heart. Your patriotism is something to be saluted while your devoted belief in god is respectable.

You are the second friend who has left me. According to your religion, let me hope that you are now with god and you can live peacefully in heaven.

Good bye Siqiu. Good bye Brother Ho.

Greyhound Stuns!

2007-08-26T08:47:00.000+08:00

The ride to Toronto was long... freaking long... Before we even reached Toronto, I was stunned by greyhound (this should be the first in many that is coming up). The queue was long so May & I decided to make use of the automated kiosk which has no queue. Thinking that we were IT-savvy enough to skip the queue by making use of the automated kiosk, we were quite satisfied with ourselves. But ALAS! As the machine proceeded towards the printing of our ticket, the machine HUNG!!! We then asked the operator for help and all she did was to take our credit card and try it on another machine and told us that our credit card did not work! What the Hell! It worked! it was working but the machine basically just hung during the printing stage! She just told us to wait (albeit in a totally disinterested tone) and walked away. I tried to seek help by queuing in the main queue again. After 20mins of queueing, the machine suddenly dispensed our Philly to Toronto tickets! Trust me this would turn out to be a disastrous result in the end. (see behind when i talk about the trip from Atlantic City to DC.

To travel from Philly to Toronto, the greyhound will bring you to NYC first before going to Toronto. the 2nd stun came from the bus operator from the first leg of the trip from NYC to Toronto. We were in the queue preparing to board the bus. As we were one of the last few, I was in doubt as to whether we were to board the initial bus or the next bus. So when the bus driver took our tickets (at the bus stand), i asked him which bus he was referring to. He just growled at me and said "go!". Just in case it was my bad english, i asked again. He once again growled and me and said "go! just use some common sense and you'll know!". WTF...

Let's fast forward to the part when we wanted to leave Atlantic City for DC (that's like 5 days forward). We went to the bus terminal to collect our tickets. Guess what? The operator told us that our itinerary is disconnected and we need to call a 1800 number. Since its toll-free, we called. The operator told us that we need to cancel the booking (and get a 100% refund) and book it again (i.e. i needed cash flow of 2 x the fare). Forgetting about that, We adopted the option. When the operator asked for our credit card information, she said the credit card has to be registered in US. What kinda shit policy is that? So i decided to call it off and just cancel the ticket. At most i'll just go to the terminal to purchase a new ticket. They stun me for the 4th time this trip.

They told me that if i were to cancel the ticket without rebooking, they can only refund me 80% of the bill. Another shit policy. I had enough. I just said ok and asked her to refund me my 80% of the bill. That caused us to lose 20% x 72 bucks, about US$14.40. Sianz... Fortunately, we save some money by taking an alternative transport to DC. We took a US$13.25 NJ transit to Philly and took a China Town Bus at US$14 to DC. the total cost per pax was US$27.25 instead of US$34. As such, we saved US$6.75 per pax + US$4 will-call cost by greyhound. So in the end, we saved about a buck...

I would like to also point out that during the trip to Toronto, we were driven by different bus drivers. 1 from Canada (the route from Buffalo to Toronto or Toronto to Buffalo) and the rest from US. The Canadian Bus operators were MUCH MORE courteous than the US ones... think about this...

here's my recommendation, take the Chinatown Bus if you can...

Philadelphia 2D1N

2007-08-25T10:04:00.000+08:00

Hi Folks! I'm really sorry for the late blog entry. I was in Philadelphia between the 17th and 18th of August. The 2 days there were really mainly for administration. When we arrived at Phily, we took a metro down towards 40th street in search of UPENN's Office of International Programmes (OIP). Just before i forget, Philadelphia's divided into many many sectors. Broadly, the place that i'll be in can be divided into 2 areas: Center City (where the office buildings + shopping malls are) and University City (needless to say, where all the universities are).

Armed with an address, i searched around for the office with LOTS of bags. It took me about 30mins and a lot of luck to finally find the place. I thought the office was within some administration building. Later did i find out that its actually inside International House (aka I-House), a building the provides OFF-CAMPUS accomodation! Bleahz...

After depositing all my stuff with January Stayton (one of the OIP ladies), there seems to be lots of stuff to be done! I need to collect my student card, create my bank account and deposit my bank draft! Hmm... Nonetheless, before we moved on to do those, we found Houston House (one of UPENN's building) and tried their famous Houston Crepes. Its really nice trust me! if you don't, here's picture to show you the size and the look.

We then proceeded to collect my PENN card only to find out that i can only collect it during orientation on the 29th of August. Nonetheless, we managed to proceed with the processing of my account and banking of the bank draft.

We then took a metro back to Center City. The timing was great for us. As we were supposed to check in to this hostel called HI-Bank Street (as mentioned in the previous entry) only before 11am or after 430pm, we arrived at 420pm and yupz... only needed to wait for 10mins before we could check in.

The rest of day was spent travelling within Center City. Nothing much was achieved except for giving us a rough feel of the place in aid of navigation during the next day. Nonetheless, here's some pics:

the original love sign

penn's landing

historical buildings at Phily

The second day was characterized by much touring. We walked around the historical district and understood a little more about America's history. If you guys din know, Philadelphia was US' first capitol. As such, the declaration of independence was signed in this city and we could also see things like the liberty bell. We also rested at this park and i tried to look gay... wahahah...

May and the liberty bell

gay yujian

Within the Center City, apart from historical areas, there are also other areas such as the Convention Center District, the Washington Square District, Parkway / Museum District and Rittenhouse Square District. Nothing interesting seriously. We just walked around aimlessly just to see the life style there. People are truly very relaxed. We then proceeded to eat the ever famous PAT's philly cheesesteak. The queue is freaking long but trust me, the service speed is the fastest i've EVER seen. Each transaction takes less than 5secs. The chokepoint is you! Right after you finish ordering, the item will be in your face! Here's a pic!

all right... that's about it from Philadelphia. Next Stop, Toronto!

First Destination... New York

2007-08-18T08:38:00.000+08:00

Harlow everyone!!!

sorry for not updating my blog for almost a week! Anyway, i wasn't able to get FREE internet connection in New York and that's why i couldn't update my blog to show you guys some pics! Before i continue, i want to thank everyone for sending me off! really appreciate the effort!

Anyway, I've already arrived at Philadelphia and settled some banking and administrative matters with UPENN... I'm currently staying at this place called Hostelling International - Bank Street @ Philadelphia. The place is really great compared to my previous accomodation at Chealsea International House.

Here's what i did from Monday to Thursday @ New York:

Monday

I arrived at New York JFK @ around 1030hrs. We only got to check in at around 1430hrs. We then spent the rest of the day exploring New York City, in specific Mid Manhattan. We went to Times Square and walked around. We also tried to go up Empire State Building. But guess what? The wait was around 90 to 120mins... siao bo... we decided to give it a miss. I guess we were both tired from the 19-hr plane ride and we went back to sleep at around 8pm. Nonetheless, here's some pics!

Empire State Building

Times Square

Tuesday

Tuesday was much more eventful! We travelled to Woodbury - The Premium Factory Outlet. Basically, we had to take a US$39 return-trip bus ride that is about an hour long to this place called Woodbury. The stuff is damn CHEAP and we really spent more than 6 hours shopping there! May bought stuff from GAP, LEVI's, Nike, etc. For me, the only thing that attracted my attention was... The North Face Factory Outlet!!! All you guys!! Imagine that!! I spent like US$140 at the factory outlet place. I bought a 40L North Face Day Pack @ US$70+, 1 North Face Short Sleeve Quick Dry Shirt @ US$20, 1 Pair of Levi's Jeans @ US$25, 1 Levi's T-shirt @ US$10, 1 Aeropostale Polo T-shirt @ US$15.

We then spent the rest of the day travelling around Time Square to recce for Broadway Shows to watch on Wednesday.

Tuesday Breakfast

Woodbury

Wednesday

Wednesday is Lower Manhattan Day. We took the Metro to Wall Street and walked around. We saw the NYSE building, the Financial District, Ground Zero (what the WTC is called after 911, since it has 0 floors left) and of course... the famous Bull. We then took the circle line to visit the Statue of Libery Island. As one of those who reserved our tickets, we got tickets to go up the inside of the Statue of Liberty! The inside is really damn coolz and nice. There is a musuem that tells us all about the Statue.

After we finished touring that part of Manhattan, we then went to watch a show on Broadway! Yay!!! really a Broadway Broadway SHOW!!! We watched the Drowsey Chaperone at the Marquis Theatre. Its really damn nice and you can read more about the show @ http://www.drowsychaperone.com/. (paisehz, no pics on the broadway show)

time to ride the BULL market

New York Stock Exchange

cute boys with the Statue of Liberty

Thursday
On Thursday, we headed to the Museum of Natural History. This place is damn damn damn BIG and COOLZ... i really liked the place. The Museum has everything from African Animals to Dinosaurs to the Solar System, etc. Trust me, this place is really really damn damn nice!!! We were able to purchase student tickets and we watched an IMAX Dinosaure Film, A cosmic collision OMNI Theatre Film, and explored the place for the WHOLE DAY... we walked from 1030hrs to around 1600hrs. Let the pictures do the talking man...

entrance to the museum

the bears!

the dinosaurs!

central park

ok... this is a long entry... for more pics... check out my facebook!!! seeya guys!

Hours before flying...

2007-08-12T17:56:00.001+08:00

The time now is 1755... it is about 5 hrs and 55 minutes away from the flight departure time. The excitement is slowly building up and I am really excited about the trip to the states. I got a few sms (and a call) this morning telling me bon voyage and to take care of myself. I thank you for your nice gesture and i assure you that it really really meant something (although my departure time is 1150PM and not AM).

At this moment of time, leaving home for 4 months do not seem to be too big of a problem for me. After all, I am rather comfortable with my parents alone in Singapore. As much as I'm an only child (yes I am an only child, for people who still don't know), my family has always been operating independently. each of us takes charge of our own lifes and that made me more or less a more independent man. Nonetheless, I'm sure I'll miss my parents (like during my 1 month trek in Nepal). I just hope that they can take good care of themselves.

To my friends,
For all those friends out there who have access to this blog, I assure you that I'll miss you guys. I am really sure that during my stay in the states, there must be some moment in time that I'll think of you guys. In any event that you miss me, please do drop me a mail or give me a call. If you don't miss me, but want me to buy stuff back for you, just email me the stuff you need. (but no guarantees for those who don't miss me... haha ;p)

To the Xtremists (the past, the present, the future),
I know most of you are involved in the organization of SMUX Camp. I wish you all the best! I'm sure you guys would be able to impress the freshies and let them feel that SMUX is the best place for them! Shortly after SMUX Camp would be night bike. I heard that the recce ended last night. I hope you guys enjoyed the recce and make sure you let the freshies exprience the SMUX culture!

In the mean time, I'll like to leave you guys with some impt contact numbers if you really wanna contact me:

Contact Numbers
Singapore Mobile Number: (65) 9108 7435
US Mobile Number: TBC
Hostel Room direct line: (65) 6492 7455
Hostel Room US line: 1-215-417-4210

Addresses
Hostel Mailing Address:
3650 Chestnut Street, Box 24, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6107

Emails:
yujian.yam.2004@smu.edu.sg
yamyujian@hotmail.com
yam@sas.upenn.edu

that's it! take care everyone!

Happy Birthday to my Dad

2007-08-11T14:20:00.000+08:00

10th of August is my Dad's birthday. Frankly, it was only in the recent years that we started to celebrate my parents birthday. Previously, we were all busy working or studying that we usually do not spend time to celebrate our birthdays. I guess one of the push factors is May. It was ever since we got together that we started celebrating birthdays. I guess my family wasn't really bothered to celebrate birthdays previously. Nonetheless, I think celebrating birthdays are really kinda enjoyable. It helps to liven up the family members and let everyone relax.

Yesterday, my parents, may and I went to OASIS near Kallang Indoor Stadium for dinner. The restaurant served teochew porridge and my parents really enjoyed themselves. It has almost been 20 years since my parents stepped into the restaurant and it really brought back many memories for them. My father recalled that he had his first Singapore meal in this restaurant about 25 years back and the restaurant hasn't change much since.

Yesterday's meal has some significance to it. It was one of the very few times that i treated the family to a meal. It was also a sense of nolstagia for my parents. I'm glad that my parents enjoyed themselves. Happy Birthday Dad!

my parents at the entrance of the teochew porridge restaurant

my parents cutting cake

my parents & i

my whole family

may and I (may says she's pretty today, I agree)

Packing for the trip

2007-08-08T00:57:00.000+08:00

Finally, i got down to packing for the US trip... with the packing list in hand, packing isn't really that difficult. The biggest difficulty is getting the stuff that i wear all the time into the luggage. As I have been wearing these clothes all the time, being able to get them washed and dried b4 i pack them seems like a feat. But no worries, most of them are more or less dry and ready to be packed.

Similar to going on trekking trips, I have packed my clothings according to categories into ziplock bags. This time, i've invested some money into "Lock N Lock" ziplock bags which have 1 way valves in them. There are 2 types. One with valves for vacuum cleaners and another which removes air by squeezing. I opted for the squeezing one as it is more practical when i'm on the move. 3 of such bags costs about S$12.90. That means more than S$4 per bag... Trust me, i don't really think they're great investments.

Before i actually packed these clothings into the ziplocks, the most impt task is to divide them into 2 piles. One pile for my luggage which will not be opened till the 26th of August, and another pile is for my trek bag which will follow me during the 2-week tour. My trek bag is kinda light although it looks kinda full. I've included my thermal mat to aid in my travelling and that took up quite a bit of space. Apart from that, the rest are just small items mainly clothes or electronics.

Here's some pictures of the packed luggage and unpacked trek bag:

my packed luggage

zoom in on my luggage

my unpacked trek bag with my jungle hat on top

I think it is getting increasingly exciting. All i look forward to now is Sunday. I will be engaging in many firsts this time in the states. So just to name a few:

1) First time taking long haul flight
2) First time going to US
3) First time staying away from home more than 3 months

etc...

So let's hope everything goes well! wish me good luck!

A Flurry of Gatherings

2007-08-02T15:58:00.000+08:00

Wow... its now a countdown to my takeoff! 10 more days and I'll be on a 21hr flight to the United States of America! Hmm... For those who still do not know what is happening, I will be leaving for USA for my student exchange between the 12th of August and the 28th of December. Officially, my exchange program is with the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, I will be taking courses all over the place! The modules that I have already secured are actually in the polls on the right column. They are: Derivatives, Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management, Spanish and Real Estate Economics.

Anyway, I am really thankful that there are many people who wants to meet up with me before I fly off. I am really grateful that at least these people would miss me (I hope!). Even if they don't miss me, I am thankful that these people at least make the effort to meet me before I leave. Thanks guys!

So far, I have already met up with the following people:

AY2006/07 (term 1) LTB TAs @ Hardrock Cafe
My very own LTB mates - At least Kimberly, Sherina, Eileen and Jon

I am looking forward to next week as my internship ends and I'll be catching up with some of my dearest friends before I finally fly off. In the mean time, I want to tell everyone that I'll miss you guys!

On the side note, just to demonstrate how much i'll miss you guys, I want to tell you guys that I actually took a slow walk around school one of the evenings this week. I walked from LKCSOB to the GYM and also into the CCA Room, peered into the eXplore Room (now known as the box) and also the various places which i've spent the last 2 years of my school life. The place which gave me the deepest impression is none other than the CCA room which i spent a large part of my time in.

I've finally decided to start packing and i'll start packing this coming weekend... so to end off this post, let me show you what I'll be bringing... advice is appreciated!

Packing List

4 x T-shirts
2 x Polo Tees
4 x Shirts + 2 x Ties
2 x Pants
2 x Jeans
1 x Suit Jacket
5 x Shorts
2 x Running Attire (top & bottoms included)
1 x Swimming Trunk
10 x Underwear
2 x Sleeping Attire
3 x White Socks + 5 x Black Socks + 4 x Trekking Socks
1 x Asics Running Shoes
1 x Slippers
1 x Formal Shoes
1 x Semi-Formal Shoes
1 x Trekking Boots
1 x Sleeping Mat + 1 x Silk Liner
1 x Marmot Fleece & 1 x Marmot Shell & 1 x Marmot Gloves & 1 x Thermals
1 x Small Towel + 1 x Big Towel
1 x Sunglasses
Toileteries
Mobile Phone, Laptop and respective Chargers
Namecards
1 x Electronic Pot
1 x Crumpler Bag + 1 x Trek Bag + 1 x Luggage
1 x First Aid Kit
2 x Belt
1 x Washing Powder
Stationary
Gifts for US friends
International power adapter
1 x 5-socket Power Extension

I wonder whether it can all fit?

Farewell Dinner with the LTB TAs

2007-07-30T16:30:00.000+08:00

This entry is dedicated to the 6 wonderful TAs that i had for LTB during the first Semester of AY2006-07. As some of you guys know, I was the head TA for Prof Gilbert. These 6 TAs were a wonderful batch of people whom I kept in touch with even after the module. They are non other than Huiyi, Evangeline, Lishan, Vincent, Yiming and Xuanming. I guess we were closer than the other TAs I had for a very simple reason that we had a lot more meetings than the other TAs i had. Apart from the regular Head TA "education" sessions, we had "extra" meetings to settle a video project for having effective meetings as per requested by Prof Gilbert.

Anyway, after informing them that I'll be going for my US exchange, they suggested that we should have an outing before I go. After some coordination via email, we managed to set upon a date for the gathering. As usual, discussions for time and place for a "meeting" in this group of people goes very smoothly with everyone actively throwing out ideas. In the end, we decided on hardrock cafe behind forum. I would like to make a note here that one of the main motivations behind going to hardrock is a voucher that Vincent volunteered to donate. Thus, I would like to hereby sincerely thank VINCENT for donating his $100 hardrock cafe voucher for our humble gathering.

The night went smoothly as we accidentally bumped into each other at Orchard MRT. The only person whom we did not manage to meet at the MRT was Vincent. We then begain to make our way to hardrock on foot. On a side note, we bumped into Michelle Lee (yes the marketing prof) along orchard road while on our way to hardrock cafe. A few of them (who did not know who she was) did not really believed that she's a prof (considering that she was dressed like any other university student shopping along orchard road).

After meeting Vincent (I realised that i mentioned vincent like many many times) at the door, we all proceeded into the cafe. The decor of the place was based on the MTV period (i think) and there was many TVs which played music videos. Guess what? we saw many "retro" MTVs like Geri Haliwell's "Its Raining Men" while we were there... kinda nostalgic. here's some pics:

the jumbo thingy

my main course: macoroni and cheese... damn nice

xuanming's main course... i took this cause i was beside him

Apart from ordering a main course each, we also ordered a jumbo thingy to share (not really that great though). We then chat the night away talking about anything and everything under the sun. The whole affair lasted till around 9+ before we made our way to the NYDC at Wheelock where we continued to chat until like 10+. It was really amazing that we had so much stuff to talk about. As we were each making our ways home, we even stood outside the door of wheelock and chatted for more than 30mins. haha...

I just want to say that I've enjoyed the night quite a lot and it was really great that we could catch up with one another. Seeya guys soon!

Earning from Stocks

2007-07-25T16:54:00.000+08:00

Hi All,

i dedicate this post to stocks and shares. As mentioned, i might be giving tips. But today, its more of letting everyone think about issues about investing as compared to giving tips. Let us start my introducing the two main analysis methods in deciding stocks to buy - Fundamental Analysis & Technical Analysis.

Fundamental Analysis (FA)

Basically, fundamental analysis is used by longer term investors. What they do is to look at the operations of the company. They look at things like the Business Model and Financials. They usually do some forecasts of the financials and start to do their "valuation". The two main type of fundamental analysis methods are Discounted Cash Flow Method (DCF) and Peer Comparisons (Comps Analyasis). For the first, its not a too complicated process but let me just say that it involves concepts like WACC, CAPM, Discounting, FCFF, FCFE, etc. Alternatively, in comps analysis, investors form ratios such as Price-Earnings Ratio (PE), Price-Book Ratio (PB), etc to compare the company with their peers. Basically, say you want to buy a bread, if both pieces of bread is the same, they should cost about the same.

It is important to note that fundamental analysis obeys the underlying meaning of stock investing. That is to buy shares of a company to own it so that you can take a piece of its earnings or revenue. It usually guides long term investors

Technical Analysis (TA)

Basically people use charts and statistics to predict price movements. As an investor, you want to be able to purchase a stock and see it rise before selling it off. In other words, its called buy low and sell high. So when is it a low and when is it a high when you dunno tomorrow's price, people will use TA to "predict" tomorrow's price. There are terms and tools such as RSI, MACD, candlesticks, support / resistance levels that help people make investment decisions. Technical Analysis are usually used by short run investors who time their investments.

I think i remembered in some previous post that i said both are impt to make investing decisions. I still agree at this moment in time. However, today, i realize that Singapore's stock market is filled with many people who trade purely by using TA and worst still purely by listening to what others say. The worst part of this is that these people can freaking EARN MONEY!!!! arghz!

That got me thinking... standard classroom talk will say that these people dunno what they are doing and most likely will be unable to earn long run profits. I sorta agree. But when a market is strongly dominated by these forces, i really wonder whether we should go into this form of investment? haha...

the most impt question i have for everyone is about capital. To make good investments, there is a need to have a relatively large amount of capital. To be frank, using fundamental analysis, there are quite a few companies' stock which are worth buying (e.g. cosmosteel, keppelcorp, sembcorp, KSH, Singtel, CH Offshore, etc). However, they are just too expensive for someone like me who has no capital. This brings me to the question. How can i raise funds to invest? Should i wait till i start work then i set aside my capital little by little?

Alternatively, i can start with contra trading and use concepts of margin trading to start trading with leveraging. However, the risks involved will be higher. In this case, doesn't it seem like the rich can get rich easier while the poor will have problem to even start trading and have to go through high risk investments before making their mark?

Its just some thoughts about being able to gain entry into the market when you start off as a poor man... think about it...

Differentiating between a Slacker and an Unmotivated Person

2007-07-24T15:37:00.001+08:00

Recently, numerous issues have prompted me to think the idea of team dynamics again. To many who have taken LTB, the words "free rider" probably do not come as an unfamiliar term. Most people usually call these people "slacker".

From my understanding, the word "slacker" is being used on people who are irresponsible and do not put in effort to complete the job that is allocated on them. This term has been commonly used in projects, competitions and other team-related events.

On the other hand, an unmotivated person is viewed as a person who has no goal, no aim and behave aimlessly. He/She appears to not know what he/she wants and do not make effort to do or complete stuff.

Looking at the above, I am really concered that these 2 socially defined words "Slacker" and "Unmotivated Person" seem to have much in common. Purely by looking at the person's actions, a "slacker" and an "unmotivated person" seem to be highly similar. But I guess the main difference comes from the cause of these actions. To most people, a person is termed as a "slacker" because this person inherently is disinterested in work and do not want to do work. On the other hand, an "unmotivated person's" reason for not doing work is due to a lack of reason or aim.

So... let us ask ourselves this, how many people have we called "slackers" without discerning the difference? Are the people we despise truly "slackers" or do they just lack a motivation? It was only these few days that i realize that i was one of these people who reprimand without discerning the difference. I personally believe in the goodness of mankind. I believe that people are genuinely "unmotivated" if they are not doing what they should be doing.

Thus, i feel that the next time we are engaged with a team activity with such people, regardless of whether we're a leader or a team member, let us try our best to understand the reasons for a lack of motivation and help our friend. On the other hand, if you know that you're unmotivated or unhappy, do share this with your teammates. It is the responsibility of both parties to share and communicate so that we understand each other.

So, Let us stop calling each other "slackers"! and let us start helping each other!

New Handphone with a New Line

2007-07-24T15:29:00.001+08:00

Hi Everyone!

its me again! (duh, who else) I have officially changed my handphone number yesterday. I've smsed most of you guys regarding my change of number. But just in case i did not tell you, please do sms me at my old number to get my new number. Just for your information, my old number is still in use because i ported the number over. I have finally moved from M1 to Starhub. With a powervalue 300 and the trade in of my mobile phone, I paid S$198 to be the proud owner of the Samsung I600.

Some of you might not be interested in the phone, but just some little technical details. This phone is a PDA phone running on Windows Mobile 5.0. I have yet to completely synchronized my stuff as i haven been home since i bought the phone. But for the past 1 day, this has been a good phone.

Countdown to USA

2007-07-20T11:51:00.000+08:00

Hmm... I'm trying very hard to post a meaningful entry in the blog so that you guys would not lose interest in the blog. However, there's NOTHING interesting that's happening in my life now!!!! AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Nonetheless, just wanted to update you guys on the stuff that i've done to prep for my US Trip. Maybe you can tell me what I've left out:
1) VISA (obtained)
2) Packing list (written but not packed)
3) Air Tickets (purchased)
4) Transport and Accomodation for 2-week tour (booked, paid deposit / paid)
5) UPENN forms (all submitted except health forms)
6) UPENN courses (bidded)
7) UPENN Accomodation (allocated)
8) Working Capital (still fund raising, sponsors anyone?)
9) SMU Indemnity form and application fee (next week go and submit and pay)

anything else to be done? if you guys want, i can post my packing list and you can give me some comments too!

Sexy pictures for paul.... and paul only...

2007-07-18T10:39:00.001+08:00

Harlow everyone,

if you happen to look at the CBOX, you probably realize that Paulie is constantly asking for Sexy pictures.... In order to satisfy his NEEDS... i've decided to post pictures that are sexy... before we get to that, here's the definition of sexy:

marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest; "feeling sexy"; "sexy clothes"; "sexy poses"; "a sexy book"; "sexy jokes"
aphrodisiac: exciting sexual desire
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

In species which reproduce sexually, sexual attraction is attraction to other members of the same species for reproduction. This type of attraction is a very important survival factor.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy

Ok... so it seems like pictures that are sexy basically means that the pictures must arouse sexual desire or interest... i really dunno what can arouse paulie man.... hmmm let me see... ok... here's pictures to help arouse paulie's (a.k.a Animal's) sexual desire..

Enjoy yourself Paul? Please do take care ya?

Stock Tips - SELL EVERYTHING...

2007-07-17T23:21:00.000+08:00

Remember I would be providing you guys with stock tips? Here's my tip... SELL EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!!!

alternatively, you can start keeping some money to prepare to go into the market. From my understanding, the market seems to be overhyped and is destined for a correction in the short run. There was a study that was posted recently (according to my boss) that shows a trend for stock prices. According to research, instead of the old saying "sell in may and go away", there is a statistical prove that within a year, stock prices tend to rise all the way till 15th of July. From 16th of July to the 3rd week of october, stock prices generally head south before rebounding to a level higher than 16th of July before year end. This upward trend will continue till the next year's 15th of July. Of course, i guess 15th of July is not the exact date but the approximate date.

Before you go off thinking that this is total bullshit, i did ask my boss whether this has any logic to it. My boss has a theory with regards to the cause of this trend (which sorta sounds logical). According to him, people receive their bonuses (or bond coupon payments) in the early part of the year and they tend to reinvest these bonuses in the stock market. As such, this causes the stock market to rise. Then why the downturn in July you may ask. We all know that the general holidays for the western countries is between July to October (this is the western countries holiday season, note: not festive season but holiday season). Since they're not in the country, they probably don't trade as much. Thus, there is a lack of support for the stocks resulting in the eventually downturn. As their holidays end, and december arrives, its time to support the market before the year end so that to show positive returns over the year.

Since today is already 17th of July, the stock market is destined for a downturn... The market seems quiet and heading south these 2 days... So what do you guys think? Do you think the above is logical? haha...

Anyway, there is another side to the story. The economy is recovering and many companies are going to post their half year / end year results this coming august. As these reports come out, there are high possibilities for these companies to post "more than expected" earnings and cause stock prices to climb. However, my personal opinion is that many people are "expecting" a lot and thus it is difficult to achieve the "more than expected" earnings. Nonetheless, if we were to see a market correction before the annual reports are posted, there is a possibility that these reports might lead to higher stock prices...

you can decide for yourself which to believe...

Singaporean's language

2007-07-13T17:13:00.000+08:00

"The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us. "

- Octavio Paz (Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat, 1914-1998)
------------------------------------------------------------------

This post is inspired by a conversation between me and a fruit juice hawker. Let us take a look at the conversation first:

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yujian: Auntie, 苹果汁带走(for those who can't read chinese, its apple juice, takeaway)

Auntie:是拿走，不是带走。带走是当那个东西有脚才用的。苹果汁没有脚只可以拿走（its takeaway not "bring" away (literally)， apples don't have feet, cannot takeaway)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

What happens next is that she goes on trying to tell me why we should improve our chinese. This is the interesting part. The Auntie said that now that China is growing, we have to brush up on our Chinese/Mandarin so as to communicate effectively with them (there's an irony in this because i actually wrote a paper (in chinese) that singaporeans can't communicate effectively with people from PRC regardless of our language abilities). This is the part which made me start thinking.

What does a language mean to a person? To most, a language is a mode of communication. The Singapore government has constantly encouraged Singaporeans to speak a certain language so as to gain a competitive edge in the world markets. Long ago, Singapore had the speak chinese campaign. We also converted the education system to english so that we can be global and competitive. There was also a period which we despised Singlish (maybe some still do).

When i was walking back to office after the incident, i recalled what my Thai fren whom I met in Vietnam told me. She asked me whether I was speaking Singlish. Of course, i felt a little bit offended and embarrassed, so i apologized to her. Her reaction was really shocking for me. She said, "No! No! No! Singlish is good! It shows your culture!".

So, linking the two incidents, we can see the difference in views between Singaporeans and other countries about the purpose of having a language. Singaporeans see it as a tool for business, while some other people see it as a culture. I guess its really both. Just that Singapore's culture is a business culture. Everything we do, everything we say (and how we say it) seems to be linked to business. Is this neccessarily a good thing (as our government puts it)? I really appreciate the fact that we're educated in english and that gave us a competitive advantage over many countries (such as Hong Kong).

However, on the other hand, how then can we have our unique culture? Our culture would always be modelled after some country that we work with. Its like our exchange rate, "pegged" to the countries that we trade most often with. I guess that's how we'll communicate... our communication abilities are "pegged" to who we "trade" with...

haha... its just a post full of tots... might not be right... still thinking...

Making my blog interesting

2007-07-13T00:27:00.000+08:00

Picture of me trying to carry the Porter's load

I dunno why i'm so enthu about my blog these few days... i guess the standard trend is that people are very enthusiastic about their blog during the initial stages and the posting rate goes down dramatically after. I guess it understandable for such things to happen... afterall this reflects the consumerism world that we're in afterall.

Due to successful marketing campaigns and advertisements, people convince themselves that a product / service is good and worth investing either your time / money in it. As most psychology / marketing students might know, during the initial stages right after the purchase / subscription, the consumer will experience post-decisional cognitive dissonance. To reduce this dissonance, what they do is to believe that the purchase is good / correct. This increases the rate at which the consumer utilizes the product / service during the intial stages. I guess its the same for the blogging then. Once you start, post-decisional cognitive dissonance sits in and you start to blog frequently. Over time, when the cognitive dissonance is slowly reduced, the blogging frequency also falls... I wonder whether my theory is correct.

Right, so far, the stuff i've blogged is still not related to the title of the blog. So what am I trying to get at? I've received some feedback that my blog is boring. Despite the fact that i had a disclaimer in my first entry that my blog might be boring, i've decided that i should take the initiative to ensure that my blog is kept interesting. Since my blog is for the sake of communicating with my friends, if my blog was uninteresting, i will not have any viewers. That means that I'm not communicating with anyone and that leads to me not achieving my aim of communicating. As such, i guess I have make my blog interesting.

Ok, let us try to understand why some blogs are interesting / attractive:
1) It contains provocative ideas (i.e. political, religious, sexual)
2) It contains pictures of pretty girls / (sexually) appealing pictures
3) The author is important to the readers (either as a friend, partner, leader, etc)
4) The blog presents opportunity for self gain for the reader (i.e. stock tips, research purposes, etc)

Anyway, i realize this is very similar to the SMUX portal situation. How to get more people to talk on the portal? Similarly, how to make sure my friends read and thus we can communicate? hmmm...

Now, let me see... which of the above methods should I adopt? I guess i'll work on all 4. I make sure i make controversial statements in my blog posts (i suspect some people dun believe that i'll ever make such statements since i'm so politically correct... haha). I should make sure i have appealing pictures (probably not sexually). Here and there i might give stock tips (but please dun believe me) and last but not least, i will hope that you guys think that i'm important enuff a friend.

I'll start today's post by posting more pictures of my recently concluded Island Peak / EBC Expedition. I really like these photos.

our first tent site @ Chu Khung

on the way to the top...

looking up to the summit

summit view

another summit view

My Life of Finance

2007-07-12T16:05:00.000+08:00

In light of me being allegedly accused (or rightfully concluded) as being a bimbo, here is a post that is much less bimbotic. For those who do not know my current situation, here's an update. I'm currently working in a venture capital company working for a german boss. My main job scope includes writing reports, analyzing stocks / companies, analyzing economies for VC investments as well as MISC stuff. Before i continue with my post, here's a disclaimer: i will post random pictures (probably finance-related ones) within this post. This is to simulate how Investment Bankers try to package something totally useless (like my post) and make it look damn nice and pro, even when its sometimes unrelated (for real life example, check out how China International Sports market its IPO).

The job has spurred my interest in Finance. Although I have constantly been interested in finance, i guess i'm not where near people who have been constantly IN CONTACT. It has always been an interest but i've never bothered putting in effort to try to understand the market. It seems like the biggest takeaway from my internship is to spur my interest in analyzing companies and stocks. The thing that i like most about my job is that i can understand how people operate their businesses and how it translates to figures (i.e. profits). It is really amazing how simple businesses (like selling zips or mooncakes) can let a business earn tons of $$$ and go for an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

From my internship, i learnt another thing about myself. I am LAZY and UNMOTIVATED. I might have great potential but i'm freaking lazy. I will not take initiative to learn stuff (unless i'm SUPER interested in it). I've been interested in finance, so what is stopping me from creating models or reading annual reports everyday? NOTHING. It was only this internship that gave me the opportunity to go and read up on these stuff. In some sense, I only do well in things that are happening in the "current". Thinking about this made me a little more motivated. Maybe i SHOULD try to motivate myself to take steps to improve my learning. I guess it has slowly started. I'm currently learning technical analysis, reading annual reports and creating models for stock picking...

Ok... here's a summary of what i've done at my internship place (for the past 6 weeks):
1) Produced Analyst Reports for more than 10 companies (in sectors such as, construction, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, oil and gas,etc)
2) Translated a 17-page Mandate Letter (similar to a contract) between a stock exchange and a company going for listing FROM ENGLISH TO CHINESE.
3) Translated some other various stuff FROM ENGLISH TO CHINESE.
4) Wrote an investment feasibility report for Vietnam to discuss whether its feasible to invest in Vietnam (looked at economic issues, law and tax issues, political issues, etc)
5) Participated in a sales pitch by a taiwan company seeking secondary listing in HK stock exchange (I was from the buy side)
6) MISC stuff

Here's what i've learnt from the tasks above:
1) How to analyze a company
2) How to make decide on whether to invest in a company / stock
3) Technical terms in Chinese (e.g. liabilities = 债务)
4) How a good company does not require investment bankers (the sales pitch was dominated by the presentation by the CEO... the guy damn zai)
5) Law and technical issues when investing overseas
6) Technical analysis is useful because you want to buy low and sell high (within the small cycle) EVEN when there are strong fundamentals (i.e. you ride the small wave to enhance your earnings)

Here's the list of things i learnt during my "spare" time at work:
1) Created a stock selection model on excel to help me make investment decisions (still refining)
2) Learning Techinical Analysis
3) Fixed Income arbitrage (errr.... dun really understand the article still)

yupz... that's it... i'll leave you with a nice picture lah... the pictures above are total crap...

(click on the pic to see a bigger pic)

My new gadgets (continued)

2007-07-11T16:59:00.000+08:00

Ok... here's a continuation of the post last night... remember i bought 4 gadgets? here's some extra points about them:

160gb hardisk

the hardisk is great! its working fine and everything seems good. I realized that if i just pull it out from my computer, my whole comp will power off... i guess coz the size is big and is taking a lot of my power. I'm not really sure leh...

Remember my unformattable 80gb hardisk? I went home this morning and downloaded a low level formatting utility to format the hardisk. I left home when it was more than halfway through. Let's hope that when i get back, it'll be done and usable...

Earphone w/ mic

its not bad... looks cool and i can use it as a earphone at work. Today is a tiring day as i only slept 2 hours. Thus, i got to listen to LOUD RETRO MUSIC (thanks to Nyan who passed these to me a while back) so that i stay awake... damn... got work to do too! let's check out how the earphones look like:

Bluetooth

i went back and started installing the IVT Bluetooth BlueSoleil software into my computer so that i can use the bluetooth device. As much as there's virus in the CD, i happen to be able block the virus and install the software. It's now working fine and i can connect my phone to my computer via bluetooth. This was how i transferred the pics to my laptop for upload to this blog. I could also use the web presenter software to control my powerpoint movements with my handphone! damn cool lah.

1gb MicroSD Card w/ adapters

Checked that the adapters were working. I also started transfering stuff (i.e. pictures and music) into the MicorSD Card... here's how it looks like...

not bad wor... i'm making good use of the stuff i bought... wahahah...

My new gadgets

2007-07-11T01:49:00.000+08:00

Sighz... its 1.49am and i am still awake... this is very bad... once again, i'm overwhelmed by my new gadgets and I am not sleeping... I think this is definitely not the first time that this has happened to me... arghz...

I just purchased numerous gadgets and I am still trying to figure out their uses. Here are the items that I have purchased:

1) 1 x 160gb Hardisk @ S$152

2) 1 x Microphone Earpiece @ S$12

3) 1 x Bluetooth device (with a freaking CD that has virus) @ S$10

4) 1 x 1gb microsd card with miniSD and SDcard adapters @ S$16+

I wun behave like the authors of bimbo blogs and start showing you pictures of these items but i guess the most impt lesson is that, i spent the whole nite (i.e. from 8pm till NOW) to configure all this... I have just transferred all my stuff from my 80gb hardisk to the new 160gb hardisk. The old hardisk has quite a lot of problems with some data already unrecoverable. Worst still, the hardisk is not reformatable... i've tried tons of ways (including going to dos-prompt to manually format using "format i: /FS:NTFS /Q") and it din work... anyone care to enlighten me?

As for my earpiece, i'm proud to say that it is a good buy (all hail to China's low cost production). It fits well around my ears and gave me very clear communications via skype with May. (yes i did a test comms with may using skype). This will probably be one of my most valuable asset in the states. For those who still want to chat with me on the phone, you can go buy a mic and earphone and we can chat via skype. The funny part is that while we were shopping for the earpiece, we happen to find a similar product that costs only S$3 more. It really looks like a bluetooth earpiece. Let's take a look:

If you take a look at the reverse description, it says, "bluetooth shape headphone". Wah lauz... best... this is how they bluff people... it is freaking wired and definitely not bluetooth.

The bluetooth device helps me connect my phone to my laptop. It helps me to syncro information and most imptly, i'm downloading a presenter software so that i can control my laptop using my phone! wow! haha... of course, the microsd card is for the phone so that i can store my MP3 and new programs.

All right... that's it for now... back to installing!!!

Why am I writing a Blog and why a Weird Header

2007-07-10T12:01:00.000+08:00

This two days, i like quite gian to update my blog. Maybe because i really like to talk and my internship has prevented me from talking to people (i.e. i'm deskbound). So, in order to vent my frustration, i'll constantly write stuff on my blog. Hmm... anyway, i really wanted to share with everyone the reason why i suddenly moved into blogging. Seriously, this blogging stuff is not a memory thingy that i save my memories in. Maybe it will serve that purpose in the future but for now, i see it more as a communication tool.

Its true, once you start work and stuff, communications with friends do decrease. You will miss out on regular supper gatherings, outings and quality time spent with your friends. Thus, i've decided that having a blog to communicate with my friends seem to be possible. Although this medium for communications is more or less 1-way (i.e. simplex) and at most 2-way one at a time (i.e. half duplex), i guess it still serve the simple idea of communications. So for those guys out there who thinks that i have become whinny, girly or metro (think felix)... paisehz... i'm not....

All right, it seems like many people wanted me to post more photos (shit, i think of what those bimbo blogs authors say when they post duh photos of themselves). I guess that maybe one of the main reasons why people read blogs anyway... I've decided to post some photos of the recent Nepal trip for the pleasure of those who did not manage to grab anyone of us (who went nepal) to take a look at the pics. here they are (pictures courtesy of Xiaozhuang and Melvin):

This is not sunset... its the rising sun...

sunrise during our ascent of Island Peak

the view near the top of Island Peak

artistic picture taken by Zhuang

reaching the summit...

trust me, Xiaozhuang's pictures are really damn nice... Oh and anyway, i was thinking that my header picture is a little unsuitable for the name of the blog. This blog is supposed to be for my US exchange but its plagued with trekking photos. Wat the hell... but whatever, the picture looks nice and it really serves well as a header. Anyway, here's some credits. The picture for my header is taken by Mr. Shaun Ng with his new Olympus Mu 770 (the prize that Mingwen's team won. damn... we were so near). Its a panoromic view from the top of Island Peak... hahah... what you see is from the height of 6189m!!! wooohoo!!!

Anyway, i think the camera is really great with all the water proof for 10m and shock proof for 1.5m specs. If you can afford it, i think it will be a good camera for normal use. People who are damn pro with shooting (i.e. you carry an SLR or planning to buy an SLR), i think this might not be suitable for you except as using it as a backup camera... hmm, i'm sounding like a gadget analyst... i wonder whether any company is willing to give me stuff for free so that i can write about them... wahah... yee~~~ so materialistic...

ok... guess that's it... time to go for lunch!

More VISA Issues (similarly boring)

2007-07-09T23:54:00.000+08:00

I'm back with boring stuff about VISA once again... I was just told that it would cost me $100 (i've no idea whether its USD or SGD) for the SEVIS application. This application is purely costs for maintaining a database about me. This is really a waste of money. I'm paying $100 (i think it might be USD) to let them keep information on me?!!??

Not only that! I have to pay another S$160 for the VISA APPLICATION fee (note: its application! not the VISA fee)... This is for the processing costs and whatever... For others, there might still be a VISA fee but "fortunately", as i'm applying for an F-1 VISA (i.e. student visa), there's "no" VISA fee...

The total VISA costs adds up to approximately S$320... This is bullshit...

VISA Application (do not read unless you wanna get bored)

2007-07-09T15:11:00.000+08:00

This is definitely a boring post... Nonetheless, its a little more interesting than my job. As of now, i don't have anything to do and i'm more or less cooped up in the office. I just got a new thumbs up for my US Trip. My Letter of Eligibility sent from UPENN. This means that I can start to apply for my US VISA. The VISA will cost me S$160 and 2 x half days worth of time. Nonetheless, this is my last obstacle to the US trip.

Let me share with everyone about the VISA application process. For Singaporeans to go to the United States, there is no need for a VISA if you are staying in the country for less than 90 days. That means that IF you are going there for exchange, there will be a need for a student (F-1) or a Exchange Program(J-1) VISA. The application process can be found at the folllowing websites:

Singapore US Embassy
http://singapore.usembassy.gov/how_to_apply2.html
http://singapore.usembassy.gov/visa_types2.html
http://singapore.usembassy.gov/faqindex.html

If you're not interested in read the websites (and I know you probably are not), here's a general idea of how an Exchange Student can apply for his/her US VISA. After your school has nominated you for the exchange program with the receiving party (i.e. universitiy), The receiving institution will send emails to you to ask for your information (they might take a while to get back to you). After filling up all your data, the school will get back to you with a certificate / letter of eligibility (this is what i just got). With this certificate, you can now go register an appointment with the US Embassy to process your application.

For me, the waiting for the letter / certificate part took up a very very long time. So for those who are undergoing similar problems, relax... It'll come... you just have to make sure that you submitted all your information.

*Freaking Boring Post*

My Accomodation in UPENN

2007-07-09T12:15:00.000+08:00

I really wonder why i'm writing my blog when the only 2 people who have heard about my blog is May and her sister Peggy. I guess i need to do some marketing for the blog so that more people can start to know about my planning for my US trip...

Right, here's some updates. I have just confirmed my room allocation in UPENN. The accomodation is in this place known as Sansom Place West. Unfortunately, the room that I am allocated is Type 75: Single Shared Bath. In case you don't really understand what that means, here's a layout plan that i downloaded from UPENN's website:Ok.... just in case you think that i'll be allocated 2 big rooms with 1 bathroom. I understand that i'll be staying in ONE of the rooms and sharing a bathroom with the person beside me. Nonetheless, I found out that, as of now, I do not have roommate... That's still ok... but the worst worst worst thing is that I DON'T HAVE A KITCHEN ALLOCATED TO ME!!! How then can I cook my meals! Fortunately, I was told that food sold is not that expensive. May's sister, Candy, sent me a photo of the menu at one of the shops below my accomodation, known as Yue Kee. Let's take a look:
Hmm.... Singapore Prices in USD... sighz... i still think i can save more with my own cooking... i guess all i can try to do is find a common kitchen or something so that i can cook... i'm sure if i volunteer my cooking services, I will be able to get someone to let me cook in their kitchen too rite?

All right... i'm blogging a little too much... to end off, here's some basic information about my room:

Room:
124 Sansom Place West (Type: 75: Single Shared Bath)

Mailiing Address (please do not send bombs):
3650 Chesnut Street, Box 24, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6107

Room Telephone (just call my mobile phone instead):
215-417-4210

All right... that's it for today...

My First Post...

2007-07-09T12:12:00.000+08:00

Hi all! It is kinda weird that i'm writing a blog. I never supported or believed in the idea of a blog. I always thought that a journal should be private and never shared with others. However, i finally realized that writing a blog is not like writing a journal. For me, starting this blog is a form of communication. It's a tool for me to keep my friends updated on my life while i'm on exchange in the US.

Those who know me will know that i really like to talk. Thus, this blog will serve as my medium to "tell" you guys about my trip in the US. I do hope that I can update this blog at least a few times per week. Now, let me just say that not all content might be interesting or exciting. My life could be just filled with boring stuff that might not be exciting for you guys so please do not go away with the idea that I'm going to write exciting stuff ya? Nonetheless, I'll TRY to be as humorous as I can (note: i haven't been really successful in being humorous when i'm chatting face to face, so my apologies if you're affected by it).
Right... i guess this should be the end of my first post. For those who need me to buy stuff or take pictures of certain things, please drop me an email and i'll try to acede to your request. NO PROMISES though...