T‧S‧U‧I

2007年3月27日

29

這星期又是長一歲的時候
原本以為這是三十大關
還莫名的多愁善感起來
後來發現竟然是拿西元個位數減民國個位數的誤會
多賺到一年的感覺哈

五月即將畢業
最大的決定是留不留美國?
主要的顧慮一是歸屬感的問題二是工作性質
沒有很大的動機要拿到PR
對於台灣的就業市場與環境多少也有顧慮
見機行事

J'ai trente ans!
There are always different ways to calculate how long have you lived in this world.
Somehow, this kind of milestone could be achieved without too much efforts as long as you maintain your body components well and no tremendous luck required.
In Chinese, at this age, you should be able to "stand." Starting your own family, advancing your career, and things also start to be regarded differently eventually.
Officially, young is not a right adjective for you anymore. You would be less excited when some pretty girls looking at you than when you find you get a promotion or bonus.
Dreams are still there, but you would start to concern if knees and shoulders would break before realizing those goals.
However, after some friends' reminders, I found I haven't been that old yet. I will reserve all my sad feeling until next year.

2007年3月18日

Spring break -- Orlando Disney trip

This spring break we went to the Disney land in Orlando, FL. We bought 4 days pass and played one theme park one day. It was a really tired and fun trip. Due to the new function provided by Google blogger, now I uploaded all the photo to another site, and here I will put more word part.
http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/kambric/OrlandoDisney2007SpringBreak
Please check our trip photo here.

It's amazing to see how Disney manage its theme park business. Ticket, souvenirs, photo taken by their own photographer or in any ride, food, and drinks, almost everything is expensive. However, I still recalled from the industry analysis class (huh, I really learned something...) that one group mentioned that Disney lost money on the theme park and resort division. Disney really hires a lot of people facilitating the operation of the park, almost every where you could see employees standing or working around, even though they might be part time senior workers with minimal hourly wage, but it is still a huge overhead. Of course, don't forget the fixed cost of all the infrastructure and the seasonality factors that Disney might just make profit during vacation period.
When you finish any ride, the exit will direct you to the store selling related products. It's definitely a great Marketing practice. Somehow I wonder what the meaning behide their slogan "Dreams come true". Taking photo with all those characters is the dream coming true? It makes more sense to me that Walt Disney established his entertainment empire from a single mouse character is the example.
Anyway, it's really a fun place to go for KIDS, or kids mentally. Those rides are not severe because you could still bring all your items with you.

The only photo we bought in Disney.....ha

2007年3月5日

Wii hunting project

3/4 Sunday morning
5:30 am Wake up.
6:00 am Leave 7 corners.
6:14 am Arrive at Target Store in NE MPLS
6:55 am Get out the car, and stand in line in front of the store.
7:03 am Get ticket for Wii, no 2, 3, and 4.
7:10 am Breakfast at Burger King nearby.
7:40 am Leave Burger King and go back to Target.
7:55 am Wait outside Taget, and there are around 10 people.
8:10 am Wii at hand and mission completed.

One mom insisted standing outside Target to be the first to get the ticket.

Still there after sunrise...

We got no2, 3, and 4. And then went to eat breakfast.

Red Target plastic bag...

Finally, we got wii, and another wii controller set.

Two layers package

Compared with Xbox, it's really small, and Wii can play Gamecube's games.

Wii Play game, the reason to buy it is for Wii remote controller.

2007年3月3日

Dream Girls

雖然是奧斯卡入圍多項獎項的片子
但因為片名的關係始終沒很大的興趣

看過之後發現得到最佳音樂獎項實屬實至名歸
從American Idol出身的Jennifer Hudson的歌喉果然不同凡響
一段十分鐘的solo從頭到尾氣勢不墜讓人以為這部片是為他量身打造碧昂斯真的是主角嗎?
不過他的外表也真的和片裡的遭遇一樣不是讓人討喜的那型
也難怪在American Idol裡鎩羽而歸

片中講述70年代知名團體的成名經過
姐弟四人從小對音樂就極富造詣
因緣際會從幫小明星合音開始
適逢黑人地位開始提升的大環境幫助下
慢慢開始發跡成為獨當一面的表演團體
但姐弟的情感開始出現裂痕
與經紀人之間的三角情感
嗓音較好的妹妹在商業考量下無法擔綱主唱
一人孤獨奮鬥了九年
其他人雖然事業步步高升
但商業考量凌駕一切的結果
音樂越來越缺乏感動人心的元素
最後姐弟大和解攜手繼續發展

實在很佩服黑人歌星的歌喉也難怪他們平常講話都是大小聲的
真的是相當好聽與振奮人心的音樂
等下來itune上試聽一下

Food Competition

March 1st, International Affair Committee planned to hold the first Carlson MBA international Food Competition. However, we happened to face the first blizzard this 10 years, and U even closed whole school because of the severe weather condition. We cancelled this event, but some teams had already brought their food to school. Therefore, we still had a good chance to taste some of the food from different countries.

Wet and heavy snow, accumulating on the twigs.

At least 18 inches snow, and it freezed very soon which makes it hard to drive because of slippery.

Food from Columbia

Japan Chilashi

Snacks and 7 1st year TW students....

Why always the same people in line here?

Thai ice tea.

Pretending as the winner. We even made trophy for this event.

Thai team finally won the competition.

Vote result.

Crazy snow.

Snow man....looks retard and weird...

Snow on the bikes.

It was the first and the last IAC event due to a limited budget. It's amazing to see so many people like to cook and share with other people.

2007年2月24日

Visit Warren Buffett in Omaha

去年辦過一次相同的活動當時因為覺得自己跟財務沒什麼關係就沒特別有興趣報名今年沒想到還能有機會再去拜訪這位全球第二首富
自己在美國的時間可能也沒有多久了
當然要把握一下機會

從MN到NB大概要六到七小時左右的車程沿途從35S一直開到IOWA然後再轉向Omaha
下榻的旅館旁邊就有個賭場
運氣不好輸了十塊

賭場裡放眼望去都是老人黑人其實蠻灰色與無奈的感覺最差的是煙霧瀰漫
有個教授打趣說基本上在賭場流連的人同時對三種東西上癮煙酒賭

一早七點半起床準備先去拜訪巴先生名下的一間家具公司

緊鄰旅館的賭場

巴菲特名下的家具公司其實在這邊也沒做什麼事情

我們就在這個廳裏進行Q&A 提問讓巴老大回答

七八十歲的老頭還不時開黃腔不過沒人敢說什麼!

也不時提到他的朋友蓋茲....

第一首富跟第二首富果然有暗盤

總之他給我們的建議就是要做自己喜歡的事情

問完之後前往Gorat跟他一起吃中飯

他最愛的牛排可是就很簡單的麵包沙拉主餐就是一塊牛排加一顆馬鈴薯

飯後就是此行的重頭戲了

"合照時間"

合照一

合照二

合照三

跟上了年紀的老頭合照的策略就是讓年輕女士打頭陣基本上他是被十重人牆包圍沒有什麼排隊照順序來的每個人都在他旁邊蓄勢待發蠢蠢欲動他看到誰順眼就搭著肩開始讓你拍了所以只有靠女士牌才能比別人快一點

另外也發現DSLR的好處消費機要搶拍真的沒的比啊再來就差在有沒搶到好位置

大約三十分鐘左右在最後的團體照結束後他就準備回去休息了

團體照在牛排館門前

自己開車回家囉!

再來就是等他的簽名書寄到囉

2007年2月19日

豬年 Year of the Pig

豬年小年夜前往約翰先生家中度過
一到就是春聯比賽幾百年沒拿毛筆寫出來的字就是不能看阿

左邊是亞洲組右邊是美國組

晚餐是外賣與自製的組合吃的相當飽
飲料就直接放在外頭的天然大冰箱自行取用

吃飽飯後的抽紅包大會恐怖的主持人群.....

拿完紅包之後的煙火時間一群人在外面看約翰先生放給大家看....

聚賭時間

最後的毛筆成果

兒童不宜當事人以馬賽克處理加以保護

Texas Poker 讓我還小贏一點

感謝Sammy以及其他參與籌劃的成員
豬年快樂

2007年2月12日

Ice weekend

After one year, we went to Afton Alps again to ski. It was really cold, and ski gloves could not resist the cold. Entrance fee on weekend is $35, weekdays is $25. After 4:30 is $23. Standard ski equipement rental is $23. We stayed there for 5 hrs, and went into chalet twice. This time I could make smooth turn and control my speed, not all the way heading downhill and felling.

Ski group.

This time we skied on a different easy hill.

Should wear mask...

Besides skiing, this winter we also tried ice skating in the Depot. It's hard to get forward on the ice, but it's also fun.

Almost everyone, the machine comes out to clean the ice.

This weekend, I also replaced my old ipod battery. It's amazing to see how ipod looks like inside.

New long life battery.

Use the tool to open ipod from long side.

The HD is surrounded by blue rubber.

Just need to take away the old battery and put the new one.

But now my ipod has some system problem which cannot play music smoothly. Hope it will be fine automatically.

2007年2月5日

St Paul Winter Carnival -7F(-26C)

This weekend is nothing but cold. Estimated to be -40F....and we tried to freeze a Tofu placed outside the window. Even though I wear ski glove, my fingers still feel deadly cold.
Feb 4 is also the last day of St Paul Winter Carnival. We must take a look this time in case no future opportunity. Luckily, there is not many people, and we can park just close the the park. Otherwise, we have to walk for 5 - 10 minutes, in such a cold weather, people will die in 5 min.

There are two types of sculpture, ice and snow.