Korner Talk

A good comparison of 250 DSs from Honda, Kawi and Yam

http://www.ridermagazine.com/output.cfm?id=1743967

SAT school was not particularly fun. I had to go because like most kids, I had no discipline to study on my own. Translation: my parents didn’t trust me to study on my own. Things really haven’t changed ten years later except I’m footing the bill for the class. If there is one thing that is different however, it would be the sense of urgency and enthusiasm for taking the prep class. The self doubt and complaints are still there, but I do feel that studying for the GMAT is a bit more enjoyable than studying for the SATs.

Some interesting notes from the first class-

The class is a mix of different people. A couple of people quit their jobs to study for the GMAT and prepare for bschool full time. To do that in today’s economy is pretty crazy. There are also a couple of who are planning on applying this year which I think is pretty late. The course takes 9-weeks. Suppose you take the test right after the end of the course, you still have the essays and letters of rec to work on. Not to mention the super high number of applicants this year, and a gauntlet of other things these few brave individuals must face. Good luck.

The instructor, Steve, talked about the timeline for taking the test. The recommended time to take the test is sometime between the end of the course and two weeks afterwards. If we wanted to take the test again, try to do it within the next 31 days. The reasoning behind the timeline has to deal with the amount of material the brain can retain.

The GMAT is scored in a very different way than the SAT. Someone scoring in the 90th percentile will get the same number of questions wrong as someone scoring in the 60th percentile. Odd isn’t it? The reason is because the GMAT is an adaptive test that tries to figure out what level you’re at by asking you harder questions when you answer questions right, and easier questions when you answer them wrong. It’ll continue to adjust till the very last question where your final score is the difficulty level of that question. The implications of this are don’t spend too much time on a question that is too difficult. If you can’t solve it in two minutes, move on because the test is designed to be difficult. There’s also a myth that it’s incredibly important to get the first 3-4 questions answered correctly. It still is important to answer questions correctly, but it’s not the end of the world if you miss the first question or two because you’ll have time to make up for it. The key is solving the problems at a consistent pace and to solve the ones you should be getting right right. As Steve would say, it is “punitive” to your score if you make silly mistakes and get the easy ones wrong, especially in the latter part of the test.

Has the World Gone Krazy?

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or stuck in a cube coding, then you know that Barack Obama is our new president (or president-elect to be precise). Isn’t that insane? It depends. Indeed, both parties have gone crazy with one side feeling extreme joy and elation and the other with extreme anger and disappointment. If you’re a Republican, the world has gone crazy because the “most liberal Senator in the Senate” is now our soon to be President. Higher taxes! Universal healthcare! Social Programs! Dear god, everything is going to hell! If you’re a Democrat, the world has also gone crazy with joy. No Bush (ha ha)! Tax cuts for 95% of us! An end to the war!

As for me, I’m glad the election is finally over because there is work to be done. A lot of it. I don’t agree with most of Obama’s big plans for “change”, but I hope that he does follow through with some of the things he spoke of during the campaign that I do agree with, ie going through Government spending “line by line” and cutting out programs that don’t work. Hopefully when Obama sees the real books and how shitty our economic situation is, he’ll sober up to the grim reality that he can’t institute more programs that will increase our spending and debt.

Vroom Vroom

It feels like I’m supposed to throw a party or do something to commemerate the Pig when it hits 100k miles. The mark is coming up fast and I’ve been thinking for a while that once it reaches the 100k milestone, I’d retire the Pig and use it only for hauling and offroading duties and get another car. But taking a look at how my 401k has been sucking dirt the past couple of months, it would be best to save what money I still have left instead of buying another car. Even a Toyota Yaris, which is the basest of base cars in the Toyota inventory, is expensive at $13k (you have to hand roll your windows down).

That being said, I’m thinking about getting a motorcycle or even a scooter. How cool would I look puttering down PCH on a Vespa? Real cool, that’s how cool.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself, just like how I’m choosing a bschool before taking the GMAT. The first thing I really should be doing if I’m serious about riding a bike is to take a motorcycle safety course. Riders, if that’s the correct term for motorcyclists, are overwhelmingly supportive of new riders in taking the safety course. Even 20 year veterans say that after taking a refresher course, they learned a lot of things they otherwise would have never known. Here’s a link to the safety course: https://training.msf-usa.org/RES/street/enroll/streetintro.aspx

Some bikes to consider: Kawasaki KLX 250S, SF, Ninja 250, Honda Nighthawk (250), Honda CRF235 (double check name)

Scooters: Kymco People 250

Resolution: to make cruising on a scooter a reality, I should sign up for the class.

Tapioca

I faintly remember an episode, or strip, of Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin talks about his brain turning into Tapioca. If my memory seres me right, then Calvin’s analogy describes my brain’s state to a T for the past month or so.

Usually my routine when I get into work in the morning is to eat breakfast, check emails, check stocks, poop, chat, check stocks again, and then start working on my task. Now my routine when I get in is check email, fix bugs, write abouts bugs, fix more bugs, create bugs, get confused, and then poop. Some where in between all that, I try to squeeze in checking in with TL and stocks.

One positive thing to come out of being truly busy, versus fake busy, is that I’ve been shielded from most of the chaos that has befallen the stock market. I still read about how crappy it is at the end of the day, but I no longer ride the roller coaster or am I tempted to jump in.

Unfortunately by the time I’m off work, I feel like doing nothing more than eating and sleeping. Surely those of you who put in those long hours at work know what I’m talking about. What’s doubly unfortunate is that I’m doubly crabby now a days, resulting in uneeded squabbling with TL. Hell, even Mochi isn’t spared from my wrath. If only she knew how to fetch a beer for daddy.

I’ve also become extra lazy about posting stuff. In fact, even my internet usage has been limited to youtubing because I’ve become too lazy to read blogs, not the least to write on my own. Resolution: just write a blurb, its not like you’re trying to win a pulitzer.

GMAT

Once again, I’m back on the bschool train. After my two month layoff, I took another practice test and scored a dismal 72% percentile. I guess that isn’t too bad considering that a lot of the material has leaked out of my brain. The score (610) is in fact 10 points better than my previous score. Ha ha! I guess that means all that studying wasn’t worth a dam.

Related tangent: Something similar like this happened when I use to lift weights. I was on a fairly tight diet of clean protien, carbs, and fat for a couple of months, then got real lazy, went on a couple of trips where I binged on food and booze. Afterwards, I thought I’d surely pack on some weight. Turns out I actually got leaner, albeit weaker since I wasn’t lifting. Odd. Must be the hgh.

Anyways, I decided enough was enough. I have to get back to this bschool dream chasing. Since it’s painfully obvious that I wasn’t disciplined enough to study on my own, I forked over the money to attend GMAT classes. It is a blow to the ego that I can’t study on my own and an even bigger blow to the wallet, but I’ve rationalized that the money could have been spent in more frivolous ways than a preparatory class that is beneficial. Tonight was the first class and so far, the money has been worth every penny that’s covered with my blood, sweat, and tears. Note to self: post about the first class tomorrow.

What a weekend. It seemed like a long weekend, probably because we started going out Thursday night. All blame and credit goes to Mr. Hsu for coming back to the states and giving us a reason to party. Something is to be said about that man who has the power to make women think he’s the perfect gentlemen and make men want to speed bag his nuts. Unforutately my writing sucks so Mr. Hsu is going to be niether complimented nor insulted to inflate his otherwise insanely huge ego

Now if the weekend is the Patron, then Monday is the hangover. Stepping into the office today, I was hit with the sick realization that I’m stuck with three projects, two of which are probably due, or at least demo-able by this Friday. TL just got another computer so I’m sure I’ll be forced into setting up her new toy. The dog also needs a bath because she’s starting to smelly like stinky tofu. Throw in some volunteer stuff that I have to do, and possibly voting tomorrow, this week is looking very packed.

So the week certainly looks engaging and fun, just like watching my hair recede. It’s just another reason that someone else should come back and visit so that we have a reason to get drunk, as if a long and tedious work week isn’t reason enough already.

Perhaps it’s old age, or perhaps it was because I wasn’t drunk, but Halloween has been pretty mediocore the past couple of years. This year wasn’t much different as we went out to WEHO for the annual Halloween parade on SM Blvd. For those that haven’t been, the city shuts down a section of WEHO and lets the general public go crazy on the one day of the year where it’s OK to be a freak in public. They estimate that there are 100~300 thousand people who go every year. As you can imagine, it’s a giant soup of gayness, crazy costumes, gawkers, and people who want to get drunk. Throw us into the last two categories.

The one big problem with the parade is the walking which results from the PITA parking spot. We park in the Beverly Center parking lot and trek about a mile or so up La Cienega to the parade where we do some more walking before we turn around and walk back to the parking lot. And after all the walking, you’ll find that there is no booze, that the parade is no Mardi Gras, and that you wished you wore deodorant.

A better alternative for next year, is to just go down to Hermosa or Santa Monica or where ever to bar hop. There are people in costume and booze. An even better idea is to stay home and do nothing.