Random Thoughts

Sitting outside of class right now and checking through the financial model which I did last night.

Random thoughts just flooded my mind. Suddenly wish that time would wind back a little so that we can talk again. Seems like yesterday when seeing and being with you was everyday of my life.

Emptiness threatens invasion once again.

Of Football Saturdays and B-School Sundays

It's been a sorta hectic couple of days. Can't recall when the last post was so here's just an update. Strategy exam last Thursday was a dumb-ass exam as everyone expected. Totally clueless as to how to prepare / work on the stupid open book exam. Think it is just a bull-shitting fest. Basically, the student who can produce the most and best BS in the shortest amount of time wins.

Worked some on Friday morning with (surprise surprise) one team member for my finance case. Didn't get much done and just kinda worked on the financial model myself in exasperation. Jeff's friends who were on exchange in Canada (the ones we visited in London, Ontario), came over at night and stayed at our place. Brought them to Great Lakes for some much needed (for them) Chinese food.

Saturday was a miserably rainy day, saved only for the fact that it was once again (hell yeah!) Football Saturday. We brought the 3 of them for a sinfully filling American breakfast at the Northside Grill. I went kinda earlier to Angelos to try to get a seat but phew.... 45 minute wait because of the game day crowd, the fact that it was Saturday morning, and it was parents' weekend. Nice to see college kids bringing their parents around every year this time on parents' weekend. Kinda not possible for Singaporeans but oh well, what can I complain about, a small price to pay for studying abroad.

We brought our friends on a short walk around campus before the game. Just kinda realized (for the millionth time) how beautiful it is on campus in fall. The yellow / red trees, the beautiful school buildings; even in the miserably grey, grainy-rain day. We trotted down towards the Big House and watched the band on their march towards the stadium, soaking up the awesome atmosphere (and equally awesome rain).

The opening quarter of the game (against the puny and pathetic Minnesota Golden Gophers) was just painful. Brought out memories of "The Horror" when we actually trailed 10-0 to them. Finally (freaking hell) when the offence decided to get their act together, we got back into the fight and beat the morons to pulp 34-10. Considering that we were playing without Mike Hart and Chad Henne, a decent win though I can really do without the routine first quarter shit-in-your-pants shocks which we have had for all the games against pathetic teams.

Dinner at Potbelly's. Best fast and relatively cheap sandwiches in town. Friends headed home sometime after midnight and I collapsed onto my bed for a (sorta) restful night.

Painfully awoke early on the Sunday morning for a meeting at 10am in Kresge (b-school library), to start my 9 hour finance group meeting. As always, only me there and team members come and go. Come for a couple of hours, head off to do something else, sometimes they'll return, and leave, and return, and leave, and don't return. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it was f**king infuriating to be carrying the team all the time. Once or twice, fine, I can live with that. But week in week out? Step it up dudes. This is not funny anymore. Ran into Ariel and Anny at the b-school and grabbed Thai food for dinner at Tuptin; feel a little bad since I was in a pretty foul mood but it's kinda hard to convince yourself that it's fun sitting there, crunching numbers for 9 hours straight (not counting hours from the other days).

Don't get me wrong. I love the b-school and think it's the most awesome place to be. No doubt about it. Just pissed with certain people, that's all.

Finance class this morning was pretty forgettable and not worthy of mention (once again). Going to work on my individual (YAY!) finance case now. Maybe we should just do individual assignments for that class every single time instead of group cases.

On a side note, the weekend was painful in other ways which I shall not disclose here. Tired and disappointed.

Have a good day people.

Wilson

P.S. My elbow is pretty alright now except for a tiny ache, should be completely fine in a couple of days. Probably pulled a tendon or something. Also, my apologies for the spike in profanity levels nowadays on the blog, though you will probably hear a ton more from me in person.

Officially Unamused

Okay, now I am officially f**king unamused. For some darned reason, I suddenly couldn't straighten my right elbow sometime after lunch today; any attempt to do so would result in a bloody acute pain from the elbow to make me want to shout. What the hell... the doc just said that it just happens and it goes away sometimes? Just ice it and eat painkillers after meals? Seriously?

The Past Weekend and Some Thoughts

Had a pretty enjoyable weekend of sorts. Caught up with my dreadful sleep debt on Friday and cooked a ton of bah kut teh to sell at the SSA (Singapore Students Association) food fest. Sold out of it pretty quickly so that was awesome. Didn't really get to eat any though.

Rushed home to watch the second half of (another damned) nail-biting game against the Golden Gophers (Illinois). It was another irritatingly close game but I was particularly impressed with Chad Henne's determination to come back and drive the team to victory. He was injured during the first and second quarters; pretty banged up. Rested the third quarter but since true freshman Ryan Mallet showed that while he had the cockiness and ability to be a great quarterback, he still lacked the experience and consistency to get the job done. Henne basically carried the team to our eventual success. A huge sigh of relief on that. Score: Michigan 27, Illinois 17.

Other stuff kinda bothered me quite a bit this weekend and made it pretty down. Sometimes, I wonder if not caring would be a better option, but what's the point of it then? -shrugs- Really should think things through properly already.

Shit, it's time to head to my next class which I've been totally dreading. Will probably get my second exam back and I know I totally bombed that last Thursday. Damned screw up.

Michigan Marching Band

Hey, so I tried to get some sleep but kinda failed, probably due to the residual caffeine still lingering around in my body. I just bought my Miller (just a couple of minutes ago) following the good advice of Jess.

Also, came across this video which is similar to what happens pre-game every football Saturday. Seems like ages since the last game.



The actual pre-game from last weekend (damn it I wasn't there because I was away in Niagara). All reports point to it being a fantastic weekend since it was homecoming weekend. In any case, the pre-game was oddly shown on Big Ten Network tv, probably cos they couldn't find advertisements to screen.



Case studies upon case studies from now on. Welcome back to the b-school. Awesome.

Absolutely Killed

With a combination of having to prepare for my LHC presentation on Visit Singapore (which didn't go all that badly I think) and my Finance 315 second exam (just second of the five I'm going to have), I got absolutely got killed. Totally got shot dead on the Finance exam and words just can't describe how bad it was. As Jess Beltz, my ever wise teacher would say before the exam ended, "Okay guys, just one more minute... [pause] and then it's MILLER TIME." Absolutely right once again. Jeeze, Miller time it should be. Anyone up for drinks?

Happy Birthday...

Time really flies. It's already the second birthday which I have not celebrated for Pat. Having a really harsh and busy day today but haven't forgotten that it's your birthday. Happy birthday gal. You'll always always be missed by me and everyone who held you dear.

Fall Break 2007 (Part 3)

We drove off from Inniskillin and stopped over at a farmer's market enroute to London, Ontario. It was selling fresh pumpkins, apples, jams and some homemade pastries. Interesting place.

Homemade jams

Fresh apples for sale

Also passed by this really beautiful town of Niagara-on-the-lake. It was probably the most beautiful town I've ever seen in my life. Just a quaint little English-looking town, with beautiful shops and houses, with well-dressed old folks and pretty flowers. Almost something out of a fairy tale.

Pretty shops / townhouses!

A shot out of the car window of the town

A really beautiful house

Enroute to London, we entered the city of Hamilton for a late lunch. Using the trustly Garmin GPS, we found a roast pork/chicken/duck place which was run by a chinese chief from Macau. It was just a small shop selling roast meat but it was decent food.

Heading into London, Ontario, we met up with Jeff's friends from his high school, Alan and another Singaporean, Kelvin. Nice kids who brought us out to dinner at a Vietnamese place and also drinks and some wings at a sports bar. They were NUS law students who were on exchange at the University of Western Ontario. The campus wasn't anywhere as big as ours but it was pretty nice place.

Around 10pm, we bade our farewells and started the long two and half hour drive back. It was pretty exhausting, especially towards the last half hour. Kinda glad but also sad to be back. School looms ahead once again. Oh well, it was definitely a really enjoyable and memorable fall trip. Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures.

Back to books now.

Fall Break 2007 (Part 2)

Figured I'd better churn out this post before I procrastinate anymore and just not do it later. So, continuing on our journey in Niagara, we woke up kinda late on Sunday morning after a good night's sleep at Water's Edge Inn. Checked out and headed to a nearby town for Tim Horton's breakfast. Man, I just miss Tim Horton's breakfast biscuit muffins and their chocolate dip donuts so much! They used to have Tim Horton's on campus at the basement of the League but it closed down last year.

Drove a little way to Inniskillin Ice Wine vineyard, one of the most famous ice wine producers in the world. We joined a mini vineyard tour and learnt about how they made red, white and ice wine, as well as how the company came about. We also visited their old wine cellars, which were really beautiful after they converted it into a mini private function area. Real nice. The tour ended with a short wine tasting session, where we had a chance to sample one white, one red and finally the best riesling ice wine. Loved it!

The World Famous Inniskillin Ice Wines

One of the Vine Yards

Ice Wine Grapes, harvested only between -10 to -12 degrees in winter!

Close-up shot of the grapes (they are REALLY sweet!)

The Wine Cellar

Area formerly which stored Merlot

Oak barrels imported from France for aging the wines

Medium toasted oak barrel

Amongst the grape vines

[Having trouble uploading pictures after this point, final part of the trip in Part 3.]

Fall Break 2007 (Part 1 -- From Niagara Falls)

[Note: Part 1 of this post has been edited on Monday, October 15, 2007 at 2am after I reached back home from Niagara with a tiny portion of the pictures. Will do a more complete posting of my photos later on Monday or Tuesday.]

Hey guys, greetings from the other side of the border, from one of the natural wonders of the world, the Niagara Falls! Decided to drive up here via Detroit, through to Ontario to the Niagara Falls which is also the US-Canadian border.

Nice sunset driving into Canada

It was a pretty long and tiring drive out here last night; took me approximately 5 hours of driving to get us here at around 11pm last night (12 October 2007). Stopped over in a city on the way for a quick dinner at Taco Bell. We arrived at our "backpacker's inn" and it was this really antiquated place which was run by an old lady. It was a nice quaint place, except that our room had only a TINY bed and basically nothing else. Even the "PC" with internet access at the frontdesk was running (gasp) Windows 98!

Check out the room man, I wasn't exagerrating

Anyways, after freezing our butts off yesterday night, we checked out early this morning and moved to a more established place down the road. I'm now blogging at the frontdesk of Water's Edge Inn on my laptop. Nice place (definitely a ton better with a WORKING RADIATOR).

I haven't transferred my photos onto my comp yet, will probably do that later tonight and upload them into this post at a later date. I took so many photos today, with tons of them being duplicate ones. We headed over to the Canadian Falls (the Horseshoe Falls) on the Canadian side of the border first. Words just can't describe how majestic the falls were. It was simply amazing. It's impossible to see the base of the falls because of the tremendous amount of spray which is thrown up by the waterfalls at the plunge pool. From this side of the border, we could also see the American Falls in full sight. While walking along the sides of the gorge, we constantly got showered with spray from the falls. Glad I decided to put on my water-proof Coulombia jacket when I headed out.

Before setting off from the Niagara parking lot

Overlooking the Ledge of the Horseshoe Falls

Spray hitting me from the Horseshoe Falls

First rainbow sighting of the day (look closely at the picture to spot it!)

The American Falls and Rainbow Bridge (linking Canada and US)

Horseshoe Falls

Maid of the Mist boat heading out from the falls

Maid of the Mist

Double Rainbow!

Me and the rainbow

Another shot, I swear this is not photoshopped!

We went for a quick lunch of burgers at Canadian Falls before heading downstream, towards the Maid of the Mist boat ride. The boat ride took us close to the falls, where we got well and totally drenched despite the ponchos which we put on prior to embarking on the trip. It was fabulous to head so close to the falls and also to be inside the mist, where we could see multiple rainbows at some points in time.

The American Falls and Rainbow Bridge

American Falls

The "Act Cool" shot. Haha...

Rainbow Bridge (before boarding the Maid of the Mist boat ride)

View from the boat; at the bottom of the "gorge"

A rainbow which can only be seen from the boat. Full arch!

The rainbow again

As close as it gets

After weathering the "storm"

Rainbow Bridge from a different angle

Drove over to the American side and went for the "Cave of the Winds" walk, which cut really close to the Bridal Veil Falls. I was able to see a fall arched rainbow there and come within a couple of meters from one! Haha, and hence it shall be declared that there is no pot of gold at the bottom of a rainbow. I walked up onto this Hurricane Deck, which was really just next to the cascading Bridal Veil Falls and got nicely drenched.

Horseshoe Falls from the US side

Rainbow Bridge and the Canadian "resort" in the background

Rainbow again! Really close up this time. I was psyched!

Bridal Veil Falls

The American Falls

The bottom of the American Falls

A full rainbow within meters!

Freedom!!!

A "slice" of rainbow

A "slice" of the rainbow with me

We crossed over to the Canadian side and went to the small town in Niagara for dinner. That town was almost totally a ghost town, with majority of the banks, shops and eateries empty or closed down.

Crossing the US / Canadian border [Marker on Rainbow Bridge]

With our trusty Lonely Planet guide, we went to this place called Simon's Restaurant. That place is AMAZING. It was so run down and stacked full of papers and random stuff. I was pretty apprehensive heading in but WOW. There were license plates nailed to the serving area from people who have passed by. I spotted license plates as far back as 1918! We signed in on this "guest book", which was essentially a file with greeting and compliments from backpackers and visitors from all around the world. That was definitely one of the most amazing places we've seen today. There was an ancient coke/soft drinks dispensing machine, super old newspaper articles, Disney mugs dating back to 1918, countless decorations for the restaurant owner, Coca Cola bottles dating back to 1983, and the list goes on. I swear I was totally awed by the place. It beats any museum here FLAT. We ate our really classic "breakfast" dinners quietly, taking in the sights and feel of being in such a place. Jeff asked this old man who was there whether he was Simon and guess when the place was started? 1884!!! One freaking century before I was born! HOW COOL IS THAT!

Oldest restaurant in Niagara Falls (check out the vehicle plates!)

Ancient Coke dispenser

Hidden treasures

Breakfast for dinner! Yummy!

A beautiful sight greeted us when we stepped out of the restaurant

Came into our "new" hotel after that and kinda lazed around, watched *ahem* KENTUCKY BEAT LSU in 3 freaking overtimes! Number 1 LSU is down! (By the way, Michigan beat Purdue by a decent margin but shit... Mike Hart is injured, we're so screwed. That dude deserves the Heinsman Trophy.) As I was saying, LSU is down and CALIFORNIA JUST LOST TO OREGON STATE! What the hell? That means Ohio State is damned number 1 in the country once again! Ah!!! No!!!

Okay, looking back, this is a ridiculously long post and after I add in pictures to the post, this is going to look totally absurb. Too bad dude. My blog, I do what I want with it. Take care guys and good night from the starry night here in Niagara.

Best regards,
Wilson Tan
13 October 2007, Saturday
Niagara Falls - Water's Edge Inn Front Lobby