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June 30, 2007
LBS Videocast
I've talked about the London Business School podcast before.Stepping up the technology a bit, the latest episodes that they've released have been videocasts. The School has done a great job with professor Donald Sull talking about promise based management. I'm a fan of general ideas that hint at other threads that can be researched. Books like Freakonomics do that, good business books do it too. The podcast talks are rather interesting and provide that level of detail as well.
Check it out.
June 27, 2007
Only 4 More Weekends Working
The past weekend was action packed. Spent Thursday with pretty good seats for the Jay's game. They were going strong till the relief pitcher came out in the 8th. Then everything went to crap. I left early, which really sums up all the Jay's experiences I've ever had. Friday was a quick jaunt over to Niagara for dinner at the Brazillian Steakhouse - CopaCobana. It was reasonable, but I enjoyed Carnaval more. The food didn't stop as we bid Liam good luck in his trip to San Fran and Google on Saturday night with all-you-can-eat sushi. All this eating was probably not the best thing in the world given my main weekend activity.
Thanks to Andreas's inspiration, the weekend days were spent getting my open water SCUBA certification. We couldn't have asked for better weather, a balmy 30°C. Gulliver's Lake is surprisingly close to Toronto. It was once a limestone quarry that was filled by underground aquifers and seeded with bass. The water was clean and clear - unfortunately the visibility at the bottom was terrible. Surprisingly, all the food didn't make me uncomfortable at all.---
On the MBA front, my Visa app has just been approved. They recieved it yesterday and I just got an e-mail letting me know that I should be expecting my passport back in a few days. For my proof of finances, I had sent in 3 months worth of account statements as well as a sheet detailing my current investment portfolio. I thought I might have needed to submit info around the line of credit I'm taking, but the application went through without it. Absolutely lightning quick. Move logistics then housing are the big items to tackle.
Labels: Activities, MBA
June 21, 2007
Black's is Photography?
Part of the UK Student Visa application for Canadians requires submitting a passport sized photo (35mm x 45mm) with the the rest of the documentation. This, coupled with the recommendation from the London Business School Student Survival Guide to have lots of passport sized photos handy necessitated that I find a way to obtain said photos. This is out of my usual experience as the last time I had that many small photos was from grade school picture packs. I thought a photo booth would lack the necessary quality control to consistently capture my likeness so I went to the only passport photo place I could think of - Black's Photography.After I explained my requirements to him, the gentleman at Black's kindly informed me that he could only sell me passport photos in pairs. On top of this, each pair would cost $18(!). There were no volume discounts. Being a store that specializes in photos and has the capacity to develop film and print photos, I asked whether or not it was possible to have them take my photo and print multiple versions of it on a larger sheet. Like with the grade school photos, I could take the printed sheet afterwards and cut out the pictures myself.
No, he said. This was impossible.
I left the store disappointed and slightly confused as to why this couldn't be done. Sitting down to consider my options, it dawned upon me that Moyse had sent digital photos to Black's before to be printed and picked up. I came home, looked on their website and lo and behold - I had my solution!
After a bit of work on Photoshop, I was able to put together 13 pictures on a 5"x7" background, send it electronically to Black's to be printed and ready for me to pick up.
Total cost? $2.27.
Labels: MBA
June 17, 2007
London Business School Toronto Meet-up #4
It's officially meet-up #4 but as far as the MBA2009 students from other countries are concerned, it might as well have been meet-up #1000...The good times keep on rolling with the LBS Toronto meet-up at Turf this past Friday. Excellent choice as we've all demonstrated that we enjoy the occasional wager. The food was rather nice, I appreciated the NY striploin. It was a pleasure meeting some of the spouses too.
Now, as I'm an Asian blessed with reasonable expression of the native form of the aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme and a good ol' Albertan upbringing, I do enjoy the occasional beer and will attempt to keep up the pace with anyone - especially German friends. While I may not always succeed, but I'll always give it the good college try. Well, another challenger stepped up Turf night which made for an impressive start to the evening. What was even more impressive was with the 14(!) rye and cokes on my good buddy German's tab. While I'm a little insulted that he's been holding back on me this entire time, I can't help but bow down to the master.
June 15, 2007
The Office
www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughtsPrediction: someday we will be able to travel faster than sound. We will “break the sound barrier.”Hah!
June 12, 2007
Peter & Jennifer!
In the second of my back-to-back weekends of weddings, Pete and Jen tied the knot this past Saturday.Pete and the guys started the wedding weekend Thursday before the wedding. It was supposed to be a simple dinner but devolved quickly as Pete completely obeyed the one rule we set out for him that night: He was not to refuse any drinks. I'm duly impressed with his performance that night, even if Pete doesn't remember anything that happened after dinner. What's even more impressive is what a trooper he was the day after. Pete had to perform for a tea ceremony as well as run a bunch of other errands. All he had was a little dehydration first thing in the morning. Absolute trooper.
The wedding day started out with lots of sun which made for some gorgeous pictures around OSA, Whyte Ave and the Japanese Gardens at the Devonian. About an hour before the outdoor ceremony though, the clouds started rolling in. We made a last minute call to go to the rain backup, which was definitely the right thing to do given how it poured. Friends and staff pulled together with the wedding party to facilitate the move and setup. Who knew that rented tuxes could be completely drenched and look good 10 minutes later? The ceremony was nice. It was amusing seeing Jen's expression every time there was a thunderclap or when anyone mentioned what a lovely day it was.
Immediately after the ceremony, we streaked over to Dynasty for the reception. Chopstick relays for wedding games were amusing. Pete and Jen dominated all challengers. Awesome MC job by Ray, Three little girls band was talented and the personal Ad during Herm and my speech got big laughs. Great start to a new life toghther!
All the best, to the happy couple!
Edit: Pictures from my Dad's camera are now up. After removing a few blurry ones a grand total of 177 photos... My Mom said the number he snapped is probably worse than if I were to get married.
Labels: Events
June 07, 2007
Ducks Win the Cup
Kevin Lowe finally put together a cup winning team.woo.
hoo.
At least Todd Marchant finally has a ring.
Labels: Sports
June 04, 2007
Anna & Liam!
Congratulations to Anna and Liam! The ceremony over the weekend was absolutely stellar! I'll have to say the reception could have used some work though. They had these two bozos as MCs, it was absolutely DISGRACEFUL how unprofessional they were.This was really the first time that I've been as involved with something for very close friends. It was an intimate affair which kept it casual but lively. Tons of highlights from the day (in no particular order):
- The kiss at the ceremony – way to dive in there Liam!
- The couple's first dance – Choreographed perfectly – They could have taught Fred and Ginger a thing or two!
- All the wonderful heartfelt speeches from all the members of the wedding party! I'm not ashamed to say I teared up a bit.
- Glass clinking – Hope we didn't embarrass you, Evan...
- The slide show by the photographers – a lot of great picture choices and great shots!
- Me barking orders at George and Andy and being greeted by looks of disgust – I'm so ready for management.
- Lime Stewarts and how the Hotel MacDonald went out specifically to find Southern Comfort for us – Best Lime Stewarts I've had!
- The fantastic jazz quartet and the professional dancers filling the dance floor
As the most brilliant couple I know, I know you two will be great in San Francisco! All the happiness in the future!
(Thanks to George for the pictures. That would be George Ma – Table 6. Thank you.)
Labels: Events
June 01, 2007
Admits Weekend 2007
It's Admits weekend at London Business School. Last year, this was the weekend that made me know I absolutely had to be at LBS. It's too bad I'm in Edmonton for the week, though having friends getting married this weekend and next will be fun.Details are still being hammered out, but promotion for the Third Annual Flat Hunters' Pub Crawl is starting. LBS students looking for housing out there, make sure you bookmark the page and and fill out your Flatshare details on Portal.
Have fun all!