End of Fall 2007 and Off to Puerto Rico

Ended my last fall semester finals on Wednesday evening. It was also the last night Anny was in Ann Arbor (before she returns for graduation next sem). Picked her up and headed off for dinner at Macaroni Grill. Nice food as always, and needless to say, nice company. Glad that she liked her graduation present. We headed over to Wholefoods to pick up the cake for John (Kao)'s birthday before I sent her home. Without much success in finding people to go out for drinks, headed over to Showcase to meet up with Anny and a bunch of other friends to catch The Golden Compass. Not exactly my top pick for a movie but then again, that wasn't the point. Anyways, if you have to pick a movie to catch, watch Enchanted instead. Packed up my stuff that night in preparation for my Puerto Rico Winter Break trip.

I passed out from the obvious lack of sleep and woke up the following morning. Prepared for the trip and was a little down that morning... Anyways, flight to Puerto Rico at 1:30pm. Spirit Airlines SUCK. We reached Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan at 9:30pm local time (8:30pm Michigan time and 9:30am (Friday) Singapore time. Felt so awesome to be able to walk around in just a t-shirt and jeans (or shorts for that matter). We checked into San Juan Beach Hotel in Conando, which we will be at for 4 nights. Our room has the best view ever! The window opens out to the Atlantic Ocean! Totally awesome!

We dumped our stuff and crossed the street to have dinner/supper at this Chinese/Japanese restaurant. So happens the place was opened by a Hong Konger. Just simple fried rice and fried beef kway teow were the best I've eaten in a long time in America (well, and pseudo-America Puerto Rico). Adjacent to our hotel, there's a small beach pub which is really nice. Went there for a drink, chatting and listening to the waves crashing on the shore. Kinda a violent/destructive shoreline, but the waves are pretty majestic to watch. When we got back to the hotel, we came down to the bar (which had closed) and the frontdesk manager let us turn on the TV, as well as set up our laptops at the tables in the bar to surf the net and all. Excellent service! Chat with a couple of good friends online and slept pretty late, somewhera round 3:30am.

At San Juan Beach Hotel

Woke up bright and early at 7:40am today (Friday, 21 December 2007). Promptly washed up and went to rent our car from Avis, embarking on our trip to Camuy, west of Conando. Our destination was the famous Rio de Camuy Caves Park, third largest underground river system in the world. We took a guided tour and went into one of the many limestone caves there. Amazing sculptures created by staglamites, stalactites and thousands of years of erosion. It was just an amazing sight. As fascinating, if not more fascinating, than Mitchell's Caverns at Joshua Tree National Park. Underground streams continue on new paths today, keeping up with the millions of years of work underground, creating more caverns in the Earth; truly an astounding sight to behold. We went over to Arecibo Observatory, the largest radar satellite dish in the world. Pretty amazing but had to go through really trecherous roads (and crazy-ass drivers) to get there. Also took a short trip to the lighthouse, but ended up just taking photos and checking out the majestic waves crashing into this semi-sheltered beach in front of the lighthouse. Didn't enter the lighthouse/theme park area since it was pretty pointless and near closing time. The beach was almost paradise like though.

Inside Camuy Caves

Fountain of Youth: Water tasted awesome!

At Arecibo Observatory

World's largest reflector (007 Golden Eye anyone?)

Showered and changed before we drove out from our hotel again, this time toward Old San Juan, where we walked and stood in awe at the amazing architecture of the district. Truly spectacular. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, trying to spend anymore money than we can help after the ridiculous expenses we incurred today. We're going to head back there again tomorrow in the day to check out the place in it's full glory.

First foray into Old San Juan

Beautiful streets

This place turns into the most happening alley late at night

Beautiful streets (Note the unique brick roads)

Tio Danny Cafe

Ted arrived to join us today and we went for a drink at the beach pub next to our hotel again. More crowded and noisy today since it's Friday night, but still, a great place to chill out in. That's pretty much the happenings from Wednesday till today. Decided to get that all down before I get lazy and not do it later. I'll post the pictures up tomorrow or something. In the meanwhile, take care and to my family, have fun at the chalet! I wish I could be there too!

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Crazy snow storm last weekend. The sky dumped 2 feet of snow down on Ann Arbor, making it almost impossible to drive or walk around at all. I haven't seen that much snow ever before in my 2 years plus here, so that was a pretty interesting event. *will post pics retrospectively once again when I upload them from my camera* Also, a farewell dinner on Saturday night for Anny, Cindy and Kevin at Seoul Garden since they will be graduating this sem...

I had my BIT final today. Kinda fuzzy questions and it was all multiple choice, so no room at all for explanation. Hopefully I was on the same page as what the prof was setting when he wrote the paper.

With everyone kinda finishing their exams and people leaving for home, some good friends graduating, feeling a little down I guess. Easier on some, and just a little more difficult to stomach for others.

On another note, I really dislike Grey's Anatomy for certain reasons, but still, I like this song a lot. Words, which can't be said.

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Disappointments, Surprises and Good Friends

Camping out here in the b-school tonight. Second consecutive night here myself, studying for my Finance 315 exam. Had my Finance 314 exam yesterday (Thursday) and it went horrible. Darn. I was damn furious with myself since I studied so much for it and did all the practice problems but still managed to flunk out of that exam completely. Can't do calculations, can't do the model (can you even believe that I can't do the freaking chicken feed financial model); I was absolutely livid. Anyways, kinda felt a little better as the day progressed, much credit to good friends. =)

Anyways, mugging isn't exactly interesting to talk about. 2 major things that made my day today. Firstly, I finally (FINALLY) got my iPod! Don't mistake me, I still think Apple conned my money, and I still think that Microsoft and Google are going to take over the world (suck it Apple), but well, I needed a mp3 player. Got it for cheap at the computer showcase at today. Figured I would pay 20 bucks less and just forgo the engraving which is offered on Apple's website. I gotta say, pretty satisfied with my iPod though. That was your one chance to rip me off, Apple. Not going to happen again. *bleah* All hail Microsoft.

The 80gb iPod Classic and everything within


The second thing is the nice X'Mas present from Anny and Ariel. Decided to take a short break this afternoon and drove them to the mall today to do their Christmas shopping. Shopaholic Anny was running around in hyper mode and snuck away to buy a Polo scarf for me! Thank you lo!!! Like it a lot!

The Scarf!

Classic Pony

I made plans with Jianwei and Ted for accomodation in Puerto Rico in the evening, followed by a quick dinner at Denny's with Jeff. Ait man, time to get back to my books. 100...

Don't want this sem to end...

Exam Week

So, another kinda short hiatus from putting in an entry. It's kinda hitting crunch time right now, with exams starting tomorrow and running into next week. Nonetheless, it's been a really enjoyable weekend/week thus far and definitely, a week I would want to remember, so here goes...

Studied some for Saturday and decided (courtesy of Wynne's recommendations) to go catch Enchanted with Ariel and Anny. (Fine... laugh your ass off.) It was actually a pretty good movie! Been such a long time since Disney has produced something more watchable. Loved the references to the good old animated (non-3D) movies and how it transitioned into this fairy-tale like story in Manhattan, New York. Great show... We headed to the b-school after that and managed to find a room to sneak into since the b-school locks up at 10pm on Saturdays. Studied late into the night.

Studied Sunday at home for the most part. Had my last Finance 315 homework. Another long and tedious homework, but that's what makes it fun right? Met up with a schoolmate who wanted some help applying for internships so gave my 2 cents worth on how to get that done.

Monday, last Finance 314 class. Yet another boring (and bordering on useless?) class discussion but oh well, at least I learnt a ton from doing the cases and sorta had fun with my group working on those. Nothing like a pain-in-the-ass class to make the semester wonderful. Headed over to the b-school at night and the girls came later to study. Stayed there till almost 4am since they were cramming for an exam the following day. Haha, they brought a TON of food though over though. Endless snacks and drinks to last through the night.

Tuesday was pretty painful since I had to make it to the final Strategy 390 class. Last class with my section... Really gonna miss them all next sem when some of them would have graduated, and we won't have core classes together anymore. I went for the BIT 300 review and my final Finance 315 class after. Best class I've taken here ever. All the crazy stories by Jess Beltz and his funny quotes (especially the one on cramming). Classic. Another long night of studying at Wyly yesterday till almost 4am again with the girls. Spent some time looking at old photos and all though. Not exactly the most productive thing to be doing when studying but still, a great time. =)

Another surprise was to come that night. Was already sleeping when I was suddenly awoken by the vibration of my mobile. Sat up and picked up the call from my dad! Mom, dad and Wynne are in Japan right now. An unearthly hour to be woken up (5:30am I think?) but it was really nice to hear from them. The short middle-of-the-night phone call just made my day. Thanks dad!

Memorable times here in Ann Arbor. Wish I could stop time for awhile. Oh well, time to get back to mugging / cramming for my exams. Having to stop myself short these days from doing something really impulsive. 不能说的秘密...

Work / Party Week

What an awesome / crazy week it has been. Haha... Definitely one of the most enjoyable weeks I have had here in Michigan. So, with finals and project submission deadlines on the horizon, I spent a large part of last weekend in the library; meetings for many hours and all. But...

All of that was to change. Submitted our finance case on Monday, then on Tuesday, we delivered our Strategy presentation and also submitted our Strategy term project, essentially concluding that class since there was no final. Woohoo!!! That wasn't the best part though. We decided to take the project one step further and went to do "field research" (*ahem* on a Tuesday night) at the bars. Haha... Met up with my group at Brown Jug and had an excessive amount of alcohol, trying out the premium beers, which are the only growing segment in the US beer industry. Awesome time hanging out with my group mates. Haha... Had so much fun that night.

The guys on the team (L-to-R): Simon Yi, Joseph Jang, Andrew Muench, Me, Michael Cromwell, Justin Heller

Buddy Mike aka Crombomb

The Team! (Girl in red: Julia Wiest)

Jeeze... check out the alcohol


Headed over to Good Time Charlies to conclude the night, ending it with another 2 shots. Was pretty surprised that I was still sober after. High, but definitely still sober since I could chat with my friends on msn and edit my LHC paper. Lol...

There's always a price to pay for that though. Woke up on Wednesday with the most kick-ass hangover ever. I actually made it to class at 8:30am in the morning, which is a freaking miracle. None of my group members made it. Hahaha... Spent the whole day in school in meetings after meetings until late in the evening, before I could go home and pass out.

Had my last LHC class (yes! another last class) on Thursday. Did our group presentation and gladly concluded that painful class. Anyways, the rest of the day wasn't all that interesting. Went out that night with Ariel and Anny for drinks. Cafe Habana, again! Back to the Thursdays-are-Habana days again. Had a drink each and ended up drinking the Pina Colada which Ariel ordered since she didn't like it. She grabbed my Classico Mojito while Anny had her Passionate Mojito. Once again... *drumroll* emerges drunk Anny. Haha, happy high Anny again. Had a good time hanging out with friends though, and definitely going to miss such times next semester...

Good times =)

Ariel and Anny


Friday, nothing much. Studied some for exams coming up and did some work for next week. Dinner outing with John, Ted, Aaron, Ming and Liyu at Vinology. Decent food and nice ambience. More mature crowd there though. A nice place to chill out though.

Fried Trout from Vinology

Vinology Wine Bar / Restaurant


Thankful for everyone who has made this week a really memorable one.

Snowy Busy Weekend

Long overdue post on the events last weekend. Shall just go short on this one (if I can) since it was an interesting weekend that I want to note down, but yet, feel too lethargic right now to do it. So here we go...

Thursday night, I surprisingly stayed at home and didn't got out. Friday morning finance case meeting in b-school for 3 hours, then dinner with Ted, Roy and a bunch of freshies whom I've never seen before at Outback Steakhouse. Alright food at a relatively low price, so can't complain. Came home and booked my flight to Puerto Rico for winter break. Yay! Sunny island and historical districts, sun, sand and the sea! Headed out shortly after for drinks with Ted at Cafe Habana. Haven't been there in about 2 week. I had two mojitos and a ton of chips and salsa since that was free flow. Awesome time and finally got a chance to chill out for a little.

Classico Mojito


Passionate Mojito


Early Saturday morning, woke up to write-up my Strategy paper on my firm analysis on one of the firms in the beer industry - SABMiller. Had a meeting at 1:30pm for Strategy, followed by a meeting at 4pm till 7:15pm or so for my finance case. When I stepped out of the b-school, there was at least 2 inches of snow on the ground. Slushy and cold, I made my way home as fast as I could to get changed. Made it in time for the Friars concert at 8pm at Rackham with Ted, Roy, Michelle, Shuying and Xinyi. Pretty good concert, definitely still my favorite in college, but I do think last year's group was significantly better. Somehow, this batch of Friars don't have that X factor that makes the Friars a delight to watch and listen to.

Rushed home after the concert to get suited up and drove slowly in the murderously dangerous snow-covered roads to Main Street. Got there at around 10:40pm or so and headed into Melange for Ariel's 21st birthday celebration. Just a group of friends chilling out and chatting, and some of them putting in some dancing at the small dance floor. Highlight of the night was probably Anny getting drunk (or high) for the first time in her life. Haha... pretty funny since she was a happy/chatty drunk.

Got home around 2am or so, did a little more work and caught up on the news on the Michigan Football coach search screw-up (darned Les Miles and LSU), before heading to bed past 3am. Sunday was long and uneventful. Had my finance group meeting (more like just me and Mark working on it) at 9am in the morning. Painful to pull myself out of bed in the cold morning. Oh well, lasted till past lunch and did work for the remaining part of the day. Hectic weekend packed with work and lots of fun stuff.

Some lingering thoughts on my mind. 可以，不可以，可以，不可以？真得不应该吧？ -Shrugs- Wonder if I'm just thinking too much. Oh wells... it's just difficult to convince one's own heart sometimes.

P.S. Photos of Mojitos from Ted

The Friars (2006-2007)

Here's the opening video from The Friars 51st Best Concert Ever (BCE) held last year. Hilarious!