2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
-Every year I browse through the press coverage of Nobel Prizes partly 'cause I am curious as to see I can recognize them from somewhere or simply to check if I know the area in which they conducted research. As this year's Prize in Chemistry was announced earlier this week I was part excited part glad.
-Gerhard Ertl from the Max Plank Institute in Berlin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year. So why am I glad and happy? 'cause I happened to have done my PhD dissertation work in the same area in which Ertl worked all his life.
-Researchers in this area have long wondered if there ever will be a Nobel Prize awarded to a catalysis expert and finally the Nobel committee recognized the importance of this research area.
-I heard from a lot of people in the research area about how happy they all were. Feels like the whole community has been rewarded!
Euro Trip
-So, I am off on a little Euro trip tomm. I am not yet sure if I will travel to 3 countries or 2 but rest assured I will enjoy the trip.
-After a week in the UK for work I am planning on visiting Budapest and Belgrade. Needless to say I am excited! Heard a lot about the wonderful bath houses in Budapest! And the food and the wine. And I will have a local guide! Can't complain!
-I will try to post on the blog when I am there. Maybe some pictures since I have an iPhone with me now.
Baseball League Championship Series
-The only bummer with my Euro trip is that I will not able to watch any of the league championship series and maybe even the World Series!! Booo!
-Although I subscribed to MLB tv so I may get to watch some of the games online on my laptop. Hopefully I get hold of reliable broadband access in Europe.
-My predictions:
ALCS:
Red Saaaawx over Indians in 6 (staying put with my earlier prediction)
MVP: Manny
yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the Saaawx have to face CC and Carmona but Beckett and Schilling are not too shabby either. I can feel it-Dice-K is going to come up big-about freakin' time. And Manny owns CC.
NLCS:
Rockies in 6 (this team is hot although I have no idea who plays on that team!)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Wharton MBA Application - "Click"!
I submitted by Wharton Rd 1 application a few days ago. Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the application.
-This application is easily better than the one that I submitted to Columbia in most aspects.
-Essays: smoother transition and diverse. I was not completely satisfied with Essay #2 but it still was tight. Could have used more substance and drama but I am ok with it.
-I used the optional essay to explain a brief consultant job that I had. Thinking about this more makes we wonder if the ad comm will treat my job transitions (and salaries) as a negative. I will find out I guess.
-The key to this application was my choice of major at Wharton. This choice should fit in with my career path much more smoothly than the one I asked for at Columbia.
-I did not get a chance to list all my publications as there was no room for them. Hopefully this does not come back to bite me.
-Again, it is a reasonable application. Let's see what the admissions committee thinks!
PS: I was feeling happy about my application when I started reading the profiles and backgrounds of other applicants! Man! I have to say there are a lot of high-quality people applying to Wharton. Makes you wonder if the selection process picks the best candidates always. I guess the ad comm does not have to worry too much about it since it is simple probability math. Say, if 100 kids with A+ backgrounds and 100 kids with A backgrounds apply. If the ad comm picks leaves out 5 kids from A+ group and instead takes 5 kids from the A group it is not like they are making a mistake. There is probably not too much of a difference between them anyway. And add that to the fact that they take 800 kids every year. They can afford to have a few % from that being just OK!
Bottom line: I realize that I should not be surprised if I DO NOT receive an interview from Wharton.
-This application is easily better than the one that I submitted to Columbia in most aspects.
-Essays: smoother transition and diverse. I was not completely satisfied with Essay #2 but it still was tight. Could have used more substance and drama but I am ok with it.
-I used the optional essay to explain a brief consultant job that I had. Thinking about this more makes we wonder if the ad comm will treat my job transitions (and salaries) as a negative. I will find out I guess.
-The key to this application was my choice of major at Wharton. This choice should fit in with my career path much more smoothly than the one I asked for at Columbia.
-I did not get a chance to list all my publications as there was no room for them. Hopefully this does not come back to bite me.
-Again, it is a reasonable application. Let's see what the admissions committee thinks!
PS: I was feeling happy about my application when I started reading the profiles and backgrounds of other applicants! Man! I have to say there are a lot of high-quality people applying to Wharton. Makes you wonder if the selection process picks the best candidates always. I guess the ad comm does not have to worry too much about it since it is simple probability math. Say, if 100 kids with A+ backgrounds and 100 kids with A backgrounds apply. If the ad comm picks leaves out 5 kids from A+ group and instead takes 5 kids from the A group it is not like they are making a mistake. There is probably not too much of a difference between them anyway. And add that to the fact that they take 800 kids every year. They can afford to have a few % from that being just OK!
Bottom line: I realize that I should not be surprised if I DO NOT receive an interview from Wharton.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Columbia MBA/iPhone/MLB Playoffs/Markets/Corporate Finance
Columbia MBA Status
-As expected I received the denial note from Columbia this week!
-I was not as disappointed as I thought I would be considering that Columbia was my first preference. Maybe I had agonized about not receiving an interview 2 weeks ago so much that I was mentally ready for it.
-I would have liked to go to B school in NYC but it is what it is. The key now is to realize and correct issues with my Columbia app for Wharton/MIT/NYU. And I do think there are a bunch of things to correct.
-My assumption is that my essays at Columbia did not make me stand out from the applicant pool. They were dry and lacked a personable story-telling feel to them.
-Plus since it was my first application I did not do enough due process before submitting the application. Not a good idea to submit the first application to your first choice!
-I am hoping that it is due to these correctable issues that I did not get in. Let's see how it turns out.
iPhone
-Well, I convinced myself over the past 3 weeks that I NEEDED a new phone. So why not an iPhone, this little voice inside me told me? So why not? I bought one last weekend. And needless to say it is way too cool.
MLB Playoffs
-I am not sure what makes me more happy in baseball. Am I happier when the Spankees lose than when the Red Saaawx win? Is that abnormal?
-That you feel happy at the misfortunes of someone you do not like rather than feel happy for someone you like-is that one of commandments or something?
-Anyway who cares! I do feel all tingly inside when the Spankess lose, especially in extra innings to go down 0-2 like they did last nite!
-The fact that ma boy Manny hit a walk-off 3-run homer later last nite made it all the more satisfying last nite!
-I am busting out my original Manny MLB jersey this weekend!
Markets
-With all my time being occupied with essays and other application related issues I have not followed the markets closely these past weeks. But I did pick up on a few things.
-It looks like the European based IBanks finally started showing their dirty linen so to speak. UBS and Deutsche Bank over the past 2 weeks came out and revealed their exposures to the sub-prime and credit fallout. The strategy there was to get this out of the system as early and quickly as possible so that the markets can gain some confidence that they are being transparent. Not sure if that will ever be accomplished but the revelations (and related firings) did soothe and in some cases boosted the markets.
-US based financial institutions took the hint and started washing their laundry in the public as well. Merrill, Citi, and MS all showed their write-downs from the crisis. The markets took that as a positive sign and quickly rallied! Ah the vagaries of the financial markets!
-One thing that is going un-noticed amongst all this is that the % that the DJIA has risen since the August "crash" is more than the % it went down in August. It is interesting that there is not much hoopla when there is a spike upwards compared to a downward spike. I have to look into all the volatile periods in the last 20 years and analyze it.
-Crude continues to hover around the $80 area consistently. Here is one thing that caught me by surprise. All indications were that the crude inventory in the US was going to be lower than expected by the latest report showed that in fact it was better than expected! Go figure. Tells you how much power these firms that report these things and the media have. I need to look into this.
Corporate Finance
-Here is something interesting that my professor in the Corporate Finance course talked about this week in class. Market efficiency.
-Market efficiency is simply the efficiency with which financial information, once it is out in the open, is transferred to the prices of equities/bonds etc.
-It is an interesting theory whose implication is that no single individual or investing group can consistently beat the market.
-I had a discussion with the professor on this and his take is that any market inefficiencies tend to correct themselves within minutes or hours.
-So if we assume this, for the hedge funds and others who hire these quant type people to make money of market inefficiencies they have to act quickly to spot these inefficiencies within seconds else they will not have head start on anyone else.
-Of course the currency markets and other areas where arbitrage chances arise are another story.
-As expected I received the denial note from Columbia this week!
-I was not as disappointed as I thought I would be considering that Columbia was my first preference. Maybe I had agonized about not receiving an interview 2 weeks ago so much that I was mentally ready for it.
-I would have liked to go to B school in NYC but it is what it is. The key now is to realize and correct issues with my Columbia app for Wharton/MIT/NYU. And I do think there are a bunch of things to correct.
-My assumption is that my essays at Columbia did not make me stand out from the applicant pool. They were dry and lacked a personable story-telling feel to them.
-Plus since it was my first application I did not do enough due process before submitting the application. Not a good idea to submit the first application to your first choice!
-I am hoping that it is due to these correctable issues that I did not get in. Let's see how it turns out.
iPhone
-Well, I convinced myself over the past 3 weeks that I NEEDED a new phone. So why not an iPhone, this little voice inside me told me? So why not? I bought one last weekend. And needless to say it is way too cool.
MLB Playoffs
-I am not sure what makes me more happy in baseball. Am I happier when the Spankees lose than when the Red Saaawx win? Is that abnormal?
-That you feel happy at the misfortunes of someone you do not like rather than feel happy for someone you like-is that one of commandments or something?
-Anyway who cares! I do feel all tingly inside when the Spankess lose, especially in extra innings to go down 0-2 like they did last nite!
-The fact that ma boy Manny hit a walk-off 3-run homer later last nite made it all the more satisfying last nite!
-I am busting out my original Manny MLB jersey this weekend!
Markets
-With all my time being occupied with essays and other application related issues I have not followed the markets closely these past weeks. But I did pick up on a few things.
-It looks like the European based IBanks finally started showing their dirty linen so to speak. UBS and Deutsche Bank over the past 2 weeks came out and revealed their exposures to the sub-prime and credit fallout. The strategy there was to get this out of the system as early and quickly as possible so that the markets can gain some confidence that they are being transparent. Not sure if that will ever be accomplished but the revelations (and related firings) did soothe and in some cases boosted the markets.
-US based financial institutions took the hint and started washing their laundry in the public as well. Merrill, Citi, and MS all showed their write-downs from the crisis. The markets took that as a positive sign and quickly rallied! Ah the vagaries of the financial markets!
-One thing that is going un-noticed amongst all this is that the % that the DJIA has risen since the August "crash" is more than the % it went down in August. It is interesting that there is not much hoopla when there is a spike upwards compared to a downward spike. I have to look into all the volatile periods in the last 20 years and analyze it.
-Crude continues to hover around the $80 area consistently. Here is one thing that caught me by surprise. All indications were that the crude inventory in the US was going to be lower than expected by the latest report showed that in fact it was better than expected! Go figure. Tells you how much power these firms that report these things and the media have. I need to look into this.
Corporate Finance
-Here is something interesting that my professor in the Corporate Finance course talked about this week in class. Market efficiency.
-Market efficiency is simply the efficiency with which financial information, once it is out in the open, is transferred to the prices of equities/bonds etc.
-It is an interesting theory whose implication is that no single individual or investing group can consistently beat the market.
-I had a discussion with the professor on this and his take is that any market inefficiencies tend to correct themselves within minutes or hours.
-So if we assume this, for the hedge funds and others who hire these quant type people to make money of market inefficiencies they have to act quickly to spot these inefficiencies within seconds else they will not have head start on anyone else.
-Of course the currency markets and other areas where arbitrage chances arise are another story.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
MLB Playoffs - kondum picks!
I was just browsing ESPN.com and realized that I have not posted my playoff picks yet. The Phils-Rockies series kicks off the playoffs in a couple of hours. So let me get to it:
NL:
Division Series I - Phillies over Rockies in 4.
Division Series II - Cubs over Dbacks in 4.
NLCS:
Cubs over Phillies in 6
AL:
Division Series I - Red Saaawx over Angels in 4.
Division Series II - Indians over Spankees in 5.
ALCS:
Red Saaawx over Indians in 6
World Series:
Saaawx over Cubbies in 6.
NL:
Division Series I - Phillies over Rockies in 4.
Division Series II - Cubs over Dbacks in 4.
NLCS:
Cubs over Phillies in 6
AL:
Division Series I - Red Saaawx over Angels in 4.
Division Series II - Indians over Spankees in 5.
ALCS:
Red Saaawx over Indians in 6
World Series:
Saaawx over Cubbies in 6.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)