Unsettled

Unsettled.

Here's a nice song, 知足 by 五月天.

好想。。。

I've been swamped with work lately. Been working pretty fervently at cases and homeworks and readings the entire weekend, and the whole of today. Really should be doing that now but in exhaustion, or just my subconsciousness kicking in, mind ground to a halt.

好想跟你说话。。。

还真的累了。

Final Semester at Michigan

Hey everyone.

It's been a pretty long hiatus for me from blogging. I guess the excessively long blogs from my Puerto Rico Winter Break 2007 trip, and the heavy school work load bore down on me quite a bit over the past 2 weeks. So, to concerned family and friends, I'm doing fine. No worries. A couple of other quick updates:

I'm only taking 12 credits this semester, which is the absolute minimum number of credits to stay enrolled as a full-time student. Usually, I take 15 credits a semester, so this is the least number of credits I have taken in all my semesters here. But here's the catch. The "take-it-easy" and "stroll-down-to-graduation" just wasn't meant to be. The 4 classes which I am taking, are undoubtedly the heaviest and most taxing courses possible in the business school this semester. (Oh boy, damn smart of me huh.) I've asked myself a couple of times why was I torturing myself when I should be relaxing and partying myself to hell.

I guess, I really like the courses I am taking. They are intensively challenging; readings and cases make me work like mad over the weekeneds (see following paragraph for more details), and also make me sleep half the week on the couch for fear of not being able to get up in time for class the next day. A rough schedule and rough classes on just 12 credits. Enjoying every single bit of it though.

So, as I was saying, burning weekends. Basically burnt last weekend in the business school library (Kresge) doing my Accounting 318 (Financial Statements Analysis) case. Not exactly the most interesting case ever, but had an alright time. The highlight probably was this weekend. This is an extra-long weekend since I usually do not have classes on Fridays, 2 days of break on Saturday and Sunday, and on top of that, it is Martin Luther King weekend, so Monday is a public holiday. The plan was to go skiing initially on the SSA organized ski trip to TreeTops Resort. Due to the lack of snow and I guess, the backing out of my other 3 bunking mates on the trip, we didn't go for that trip. To totally kill any possibility of me making it for the trip, I had to work on 2 cases which are due this coming week. I basically burnt the entire Friday and Saturday in the library, each case meeting taking a good 6 hours (or more) each day. Pretty awesome time (in a clearly peverse way).


Oh well, senior semester is turning out to be an intense experience. Not exactly the way which I expected or envisioned it to be, but I am still going to enjoy every single minute of it. The countless hours pouring over cases in the b-school library, the ridiculously cold weather (consistently -20 degrees or lower), the occasional dinner outings, and just being in Ann Arbor. Man, I'm missing this place already.

Oh, and of course, my favorite part of The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor


GO BLUE!!!

Puerto Rico Part 4 (Culebra, Isla Verde, Old San Juan)

Happy New Year to one and all. I'm back in Ann Arbor already. Got back on 1 January 2008 to an empty and completely white-out winter wonderland. First day of class today and I decided to go check out the Southeast Asian Studies class which I enrolled for. Sounded pretty interesting but also, I don't really need the credits. Will make my decision whether to take that class or not after a couple more sessions. Anyways., before things get a little too busy here in Ann Arbor, I'll just put in the entry on the final leg of my winter break in Puerto Rico.

Friday, 28 Dec 2007
We got rudely awakened by the call from the cab driver, demanding that we went downstairs immediately to head to Fajardo. Reminds me of a turn-out scenario in army. Grudgingly, we got up and hopped on the taxi, which picked up and dropped off a couple more passengers enroute to Fajardo. When we reached there, there was a ridiculously long line for the ferry tickets. Not knowing why, we joined the queue. Almost an hour or so later, they finally announced that the ferry had broken down and they were not going to sell tickets until it was operational. So, the whole thing snowballed and we ended up in line from 8am till 12pm. Finally getting the tickets for the 3pm ferry. Grabbed lunch at a cafe nearby and waiting aimlessly at the ferry terminal for 3pm. Surprise surprise, at 3pm, they announced a 1 delay as the ferry wasn't working. Totally bummed my day out. By the time we got on the ferry and took the rollercoaster-of-a-ride to Culebra, it was nearly 6pm.

We checked in at the front desk office of Hotel Kokomo, only to be told that our "hotel room" was a studio apartment in (the now infamous) Casa De Martes, located in a remote part of the island behind the landing strip. Helpless at that time, we hopped on a cab and went to our "studio". Totally inaccessible. Tons of stray dogs around, hundreds of mosquitoes and complete with a neighbour's horse that was hanging around a car, nuzzling the steering wheel and not running away even when it wasn't tied up. After dumping our stuff, we left for the town (ferry terminal) again and went to grab a can of insecticide before going for dinner at Dingy Docks. We sat at the bar for a good one hour, waiting for seats in the restaurant before finally settling down. I had churrasco steak, which wasn't fantastic, but the highlight was that the restaurant was right next to the waterside. Looking out into the bay area, where all the yatches and private boats are parked, rolling hills, and out into the ocean. Really beautiful. Sadly, I don't have pictures to show for it (for reasons which will be made known later).

After dinner, we took a cab back to Casa De Martes and sprayed the place completely with the surprisingly nice-smelling insecticide. We waited outside as we let the insecticide work its wonders on the mosquitoes within. At around 12 midnight, we went back in. I took my shower, dropped my stuff on the kitchen counter top and knocked out on the futon.

Saturday, 29 December 2007
Waking up early in the morning, Jianwei took his shower and I lazed in bed. Finally deciding to get out of bed, I walked over to pick up my mobile and look at the time on my watch. Something snapped in my mind when I saw only my wallet on the kitchen counter top. Upon further inspection, I realized all my cash was gone. Along with my camera, my trusty old watch and my mobile phone. I was completely livid. Then, we saw a hole slashed in the mosquito netting of our window, when I realized that someone had cut it open in the middle of the night and took all of my belongings. Fucking thieves! We called the rental agency front desk and he came down the the investigator from the police station and took my statement. Pissed.

Lunch was a quiet affair at Mamacitas, which is another water-front dining location right next to a small canal which chartered boats have to pass before reaching the bay area (the one I described earlier). Drawing out more cash, we headed back, got changed and went to rent snorkels and fins. We paid a water-taxi boatman to take us out to sea, to a tiny offshore island of Culebrita. There, the other two ladies on the boat got off for a walk around the island, while Jianwei and myself donned our gear and headed out into the crystal clear waters. It was simply amazing. Beautiful reefs, alive with marine life. Saw stingrays, different types of corals which I had studied in my previous semester in my GEOSCI 101 (Coral Reefs) class. With the better snorkel and fins, I was able to dive to the bottom, observing the fish and coral closely and swimming amongst the hundreds of fish. Amazing. On the return trip to Culebra, I told the boatman, George, about the theft which happened the previous night. He was pretty worked up and looked rather pissed. Culebra has been his home for the past 56 years and people leave their homes unlocked, keys in their cars, and basically, thefts like these don't happen on the island. He said he would check with the locals (a mini mafia / local vigilante) group to see if he could find anything. Apparently, the previous time they had a theft and identified the thief, this "mafia" as George called it, stormed into the bar, complete with baseball bats and weapons, beating the guy to hell (and hospital). Well, I hope the cops recover my stuff. Else, good luck to the dumb fuck if he gets caught by the locals.

When we got back to Casa De Martes, the cops called and to my great delight, let us know that they had found my camera! Simply amazing! I have no idea how they managed to recover a tiny camera in such a big island, with such a diverse group of people and tourists on it. I was delighted and really thankful. All my photos were gone (hence the lack of pictures for the 2 days) but still, I was glad to have gotten my camera back.

We had dinner at the only local pizza place (and bar) in town, waiting for almost 2 hours for the ridiculously huge pizza. While waiting, I had my Cuba Libra (Bacardi, coke and lime) and a margarita on rocks, and watched the start of the historic beating of the New York Giants by the New England Patiots (NFL). It was their final game of the regular season before they headed into the playoffs, with the Patiots being the first time to go undefeated 16-0 in the entire NFL season. Simply awesome. Popped by Mamacitas after that to check out the drums performance and people dancing along to the music, before heading back to sleep. This time, we taped up the whole freaking place. Even got the knives (yes, you heard me right) and fire extinguishers out, ready to strike back at anyone who tried anything funny at night.

After dinner outside Mamacitas


Sunday, 30 December 2007
We checked out of our hotel (waiting for more than an hour for cabs to no avail as no one wanted to come pick us up at Casa De Martes anymore). Leaving our bags at the hotel reception, we headed to Dingy Docks for a quick lunch (with photos to show this time!) Had my Medella (excellent Puerto Rican beer by the way) before the meal while waiting at the bar.

Medalla at Dingy Docks

Dining at the waterfront

BBQ Chicken with rice and beans (a Puerto Rican staple)

After lunch, we took a cab to Flemenco beach, reputedly one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Really beautiful bay and white, sandy beaches. Post-card worthy little beach tucked away in the island of Culebra. We bummed around and I swam in the moderately strong waves, before heading back to the ferry terminal where we caught the 5pm ferry back to Fajardo.

Me at Flamenco Beach

Almost Paradise

Meeting us at the ferry terminal was once again that (dumb-ass) cab driver. Two other couples also got on the cab. He drove past our hotel (Coqui Inn) on Isle Verde, going into congested Condado to drop off the first couple. By then, it was already past 8pm and we were tired and starving. We asked if he could drop us off and we'll just pay him the 55 bucks as agreed upon. The (dumb-ass, stupid, retarded) cab driver got angry and refused. He insisted that he drove us to Coqui Inn, burning more fuel and travel distance, for the 55 bucks instead of dropping us off and earning it! I couldn't even get angry at him for the level of stupidity that he displayed. Amazingly dumb. Hahaha...

We grabbed dinner at a chinese restaurant within our Inn and retired early for the night. (Damn, if I can stress again, that definitely was one of the dumbest things I've ever encountered.)

Monday, 31 December 2007
Got up early in the morning since we had an early night. We went to Espana bakery and deli just down the road from our Inn. It was supposedly the number one bakery in Puerto Rico (we just chanced upon it by accident). Decent pastries and good, strong Puerto Rican coffee. But Jianwei commented that the Quesitos from La Dulce (Esperenza, Vieques) was still the best. Crossed the highway over to the beach at Isle Verde, rented two beach chairs, and basically spent the entire morning and afternoon sleeping in the nice, warm sun. I also swam quite a bit in the choppy seas, which had pretty nasty waves. A little scary I must admit, but definitely fun. Showered and changed in our hotel before taking a bus ride into Old San Juan for the final time.

Breakfast at Espana

Isle Verde Beach

Me, totally fitting into the beach bum role

Basically knew the entire place like the back of our hand already. Didn't even bring a map in and walked around, finding the places which we needed at ease. Haha, stark difference from the lost tourists which we were, wandering around Old San Juan and getting caught in the maze of little roads. Jianwei picked up a couple of souvenirs and shirts from Hard Rock Cafe San Juan before we went for dinner at Cafe Puerto Rico. We chose to sit outside, hearing the sounds and seeing the lights of charming Old San Juan for the last time as we had an excellent meal. I ordered Sirlon Steak, which turned out to be a fortunate choice as they had run out of poulty. Rice, beans and a well-grilled Sirlon Steak. Together with the Cafe Puerto Rico drink (also known as CPR), which was an excellent concoction of rum and lots of other fruity alcoholic additions. Awesome.

A street in Old San Juan

Dinner at Cafe Puerto Rico

Jianwei and Myself at Dinner

Walking around Old San Juan after dinner, we realized that almost all the shops have been closed. Bars, discos, shops, all closed early on New Year's Eve. Walking all the way to the tip of Old San Juan, we caught sight of the El Morro in the quiet night. Beautiful. Also passed by San Juan Cathedral, which was holding mass on New Year's Eve. Looked really grand and yet, peaceful.

San Juan Cathedral New Year's Eve Mass

Beautiful inside

Cabbing down to the convention center, we saw a large lit stage, with performers singing and dancing to latin music. It was a pretty laid-back and celebratory mood at the area. With food and drinks (by drinks, I mean bars) lining the street leading up to the stage, Puerto Ricans were dancing and enjoying themselves while counting down to 2008. We hung around till midnight when they blasted some nice fireworks into the bay area. Fireworks also erupted aross the sky at various locations. Pretty interesting way to welcome the new year.

At the Convention Center

Another shot of us waiting for the New Year

The party is on!

Series of photos of New Year's Day Fireworks







Tuesday, 1 January 2008
We got back to our Inn, packed up and went off to the airport. Poor service by Spirit airlines at the terminal; nothing new.

We boarded the plane and slept most of the way to Tampa Bay, Florida. When we touched down in Tampa Bay and passengers started disembarking from the plane, someone from the front of the plane called me and Jianwei out, warning us to stay on board and strictly not to leave the plane. We had no idea what was going on, thinking that something must have botched up that got us into trouble with the cops. When we went up front, they ordered us to sit down. The crew then explained to us that our flight from Tampa Bay to Detroit was cancelled the day before but Spirit Airlines at Puerto Rico still issued us tickets all the way through to Detroit. Pissed yet relieved at the same time, we followed the same flight and crew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then another flight from there to Detroit.

Finally got back to Ann Arbor, which was completely covered in snow. Absolute winter wonderland. Past few days have been -20 degree celsius days. Not exactly fun, but Ann Arbor does look exceptionally pretty covered in white.

That concluded our trip to Puerto Rico. An enjoyable and eventful trip.

As a fitting end to the trip (and awesome start to the year), we whooped Florida's ass big time in the Capital One Bowl. Michigan, finally, putting together one last effort, played with aggression, heart and soul, for the last time for retiring coach Lloyd Carr, and outgoing seniors, beat SEC (Southeast Conference) hotshots. Down with the Florida Gators. Michigan 41, Florida 35.

So much for SEC speed. So much for us being outdated. So much for their hotshot young coach Urban Meyer. Suck it SEC. Hail to the Victors! A fitting end to the Lloyd Carr era. on 2nd January 2008, we start a new team, with new coach Rich Rodriguez. But on Jaunary 1st, 2008, we made history, beating a team the world thought we could never beat, coming out the Victors and the Champions.

Hail to the Victors Valiant,
Hail to the Conq'ring Heroes,
Hail, Hail, to Michigan,
The Leaders and the Best.
Hail to the Victors Valiant,
Hail to the Conq'ring Heroes,
Hail, Hail, to Michigan,
The Champions of the West!
GO BLUE!

It's Great to be a Michigan Wolverine!