NEW BLOG! Yes.. another one.

Well, It will only be fully operational once I get to New Zealand, or on the way...
Meanwhile I'll post all information about NZ there and this will be fading out for the next 2 weeks.
So, I recommend you [if you are interested] to start following the new blog and not this one!

For a link you can either click on the post Title or here

Next stop: New Zealand

Hey ya folks...
I finally made up my mind, and got confirmation of the money from my Uni.
So, I'm moving for 2 months to Dunedin, New Zealand [NZ].
Unfortunately I will leave my precious in Coventry :(
I need to hurry with flights and everything... but I have one confirmation already, Hong Kong stopover is guaranteed. Dubai [UAE], "Bangcock" [Thai] and Sydney to confirm...
Amazingly the price of the multi-stop flight ticket is actually CHEAPER than a normal direct flight from London to Christchurch!!!
What a pitty!! ehehehehh :))
On the other hand, I have to postpone my promise to Lusi and a visit to "silicone wonderland", Venezuela.

NZ... Should i go or should I stay?!

Hi folks, I'm back to Coventry...
I want to ask for help from you.
I need to decide this Monday whether I do the Dissertation for my MSc Finance in the next 3 months in Coventry, or instead I undertake a consultancy project/Internship for a small company in New Zealand [2 months]. You should bear in mind that this company's business is not what you can call the most exciting especially for a man! It's a chain hairstyling ateliers, a styling school and retail internet business, all in small scale... Besides that, it's suppose to be a voluntary work!
My first decision was, I only go if University would pay for my flight, since I have a stupid accommodation contract I am liable and not able to finish. This means I have to pay 2 accommodations if I go.
The University was not able to help me get rid of the contract, instead I get 500 pounds upfront in exchange for some hours as a student ambassador.
I manage to get some pocket money from the company too, to help with living costs there, which are lower than in Coventry.
In short, in terms of costs should be about the same whether I go or not...
BUT!! But, since it's not everyday you have the opportunity to go to Australasia I would spend a bit more travelling around...
I have place to stay in Dubai, India, Maldives, China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia,... to mention only those on the way and close by...
From the start I was biased towards New Zealand regardless of the project/company, but my problem is that I don't want to ask for more money from my parents and the fact that I won't be able to go for interviews if I'm soooooooooo far away!

I guess I'll flip a coin and find out :)

Portuguese Prime Minister Engineering Masterpieces (of SHITE!)

The Portuguese Prime Minister has been accused some months ago of having bought his Engineer degree in a private University.
Obviously he denied and alleged everything was done according to the law!!!
Hence, he had to assume he his the author of the following master pieces of engineering and architecture... not only those but a dozen of others over a decade, or else?! Or else he could be taken to court and accused of signing projects of engineering that aren't his.
But no! He assumes all responsibility and authorship, besides all projects are according to the law!
Really???!
I'll let you take your own conclusions... (for more 'pearls' check the link clicking the title)
Here's the TOP 3:

Number 3: Historical centre of Guarda

Number 2: An emigrant's mansion with some illegal modifications done on the original project by Socrates that were legalised after Socrates conducted some changes The best thing I can find in this picture is the tractor!!
Number 1: Simply remarkable... no further comments... I cannot stop laughing!

Gola Tempest - RIP

My beloved and best shoes ever are finished, dead!
I didn't want to throw them to the trash... I was going to leave them behind and ask my parents to do it for me. But I did it myself.
On the way back from UK to Portugal I left them in the place I know they would like to be left, at the airport!
It wasn't just another airport but Stansted, the one they have been more times.
Those shoes have been in more places than many of you will be in your entire lives!! From Rome to San Francisco, or Paris, Ljubjiana, Adriatic Sea, 3 months in Chicago by themselves, London, New Orleans, Bratislava, Los Angeles, Warsaw, Koeln, Copenhagen, Zagreb, Malmo, Dublin, Vienna, and obviously all around Portugal and Spain, besides many other places.
They've done things you wish you had the guts to do it, like jumping from the sky, more than once!
They've walked surely more than 1000 Km (!!) since 2004..
Thank you for the great company.
Therefore, there is an opening available, new pair of shoes is needed.
Must be proactive, with strong personality but flexible, good reliable friend, good foreign language knowledge, able to go the extra mile especially under stress, open-minded and excellent problem-solving abilities, but also a master in non-verbal communication... I guess that is enough!lol

The fatal kiss...

Dear Margarida,

Firstly, I confess I am amazed with your fast reply!!
This will be the last time you'll hear from me. I do not wish to begin one of your soap operas and bother myself, professors and other professionals that have better things to do!

Thank you for your endless list of justifications. It was obvious you'd try to cover your inefficiency with excuses as you always do!
Maybe it would look nicer for once if you admitted your errors and you did not carry out your duties as you should.

To me sounds irrational for a student to bring forth such accusations without a strong reason, maybe not to you.
Would you lose 1 Semester, take 3 additional exams instead of asking for the Transcript of Records?!
I never accuse someone without real reasons, I simply trusted you'd do your job and you didn't...
Regarding the emails I sent you, check deep into your Inbox, or perhaps in the bin!
I wonder why you did not mention the documents my University sent in the beginning that you lost more than once, remember those?!
By the way, your "sympathy" is useless now, it took you 11months to gather my 4 grades! I question myself if you weren't "sympathic" when would I get them!

Concerning my coordinator J... M..., try call and asking her directly, I am positive you'll recognise her voice!

The book! I have no idea what does the book has to do with this situation.
For your information, it never left Portugal. I left it with L...s V...a [former student of that Faculty of Economics, who's actually another unsatisfied "customer" of yours], who is willing to assume all responsibility for the hand in delay. As you know, he left Portugal in a hurry to start his MSc Finance in UK.

Finally, I'd like to leave a suggestion...
I'd like to suggest an assessment of the GRI's quality in the service it provides. A survey to students and other offices who deal with this office, similarly to the survey done with students on their professors.
I am certain the results would confirm its poor performance, which is also curious to find such situation in a Economics School.
My point is, why having a "GRI" just for the Faculty of Economics, when you could benefit from the synergies of centralising everything in the main International Office!

An advice to you Margarida: lay your eyes in the main International Office from UC and try learn from them, which is a REAL office where they care for the students satisfaction and do not complain all the time for having to do their job.
On the other hand, may I suggest you change profession?!

I do not wish you "all the best for your future" because I don't want to be cynical.
Goodbye.

A... O...

now a bit about me!

I'm now packing after a disastrous exam. Tomorrow morning I'll be in Porto for breakfast.
In Guimaraes for lunch, and in Coimbra on 26th May night for Cocorosie's concert.
I still have two papers to do in PT, but at least exams are over :)

Reasons, more reasons... and lots of bulshit!

"Dear A...,

The delay in getting your grade from Strategic Marketing was due to the fact that your grade was not available in the students office (BEDEL). Therefore it was not include in the TR we sent you last September.
Besides that you did not complain before that your grade was missing (I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANYTHING FROM YOU ABOUT THIS) (on the contrary, I wrote you several e-mails, since 9th July, after your left Coimbra, because of the book PARADOXES OF EUROPEAN FOREIGN POLICY, from our Library that you took with you to Poland, which you just returned to FEUC, through a colleague if yours, during the Christmas hollidays 2007).
As you know a student can be enrolled in 6 courses and only take 3 exams, and I will just know that the grades are missing or that your TR is incomplete if you inform me about this.

W... complained about his situation at the end of 2007 (directly and by the International Programmes Office from the Cracow University of Economics). I immediately contacted our Professor to solve the situation.
The situation was solved about two weeks ago, and I tried to solve this matter - regarding W... 's missing grade (as well as your missing grade) - as soon as I could.
Moreover, and as you were enrolled in more that one Faculty, my colleague at DRIIC (Dr. R... F...) will has to re-arrange your new TR (as she did last year). By sympathy, and to let you know that the situation was already solved, I sent you a copy of the updated declaration.
Regarding your question about sending W... grades to you, yes, it was my mistake (sorry for that!), and I sent you (in attached) the wrong document (R... already said me that, and I already regularized the situation with her). Enclosed you will find the correct one.
Finally, concerning your last comments (Portuguese version) "Para finalizar, agradeço pessoalmente à Margarida por não responder aos meus emails, faxes, não atender os meus telefonemas, mas principalmente pela forma rude com que lidou com a minha coordenadora J... M... pelo telefone." I would like to inform you that I can not avoid your phone calls, because my telephone does not - yet -recognize who is on the other side, and I NEVER spoke with your coordinator J... M..., on the telephone. Probably she spoke with another person.

I wish you all the best for the future.
Yours sincerely,

Margarida Santos
International Relations Officer"

The final striking bomb to arrive at any moment tonight... hihiihihihihihih

new developments [unfortunately only available in Portuguese]

Ex.mos Senhores
Presidente do Conselho Científio,
Presidente do Conselho Pedagógico
Doutor S...a A...e,
Doutor F...e C...o
Doutora P...a S...a
Doutor J...m F...o
Doutora T...a C...a

Tendo em conta que esta mensagem enviada por esta estudante ERASMUS faz acusações graves aos procedimentos do Gabinete de Relações Internacionais da FEUC, e indicia outro tipo de problemas com a estudante que enviou a mensagem e outro colega do seu país, tomei a decisão de iniciar o apuramento exaustivo dos factos nele referidos, para o que reunirei, com a maior brevidade possível, com o Dr. J...m F...o, com o objectivo de fazer uma primeira avaliação da situação, nqa sequência da qual determinarei os procedimentos subsequentes mais adequados.

Com os melhores cumprimentos

J...é A. S...s da F...a
Presidente do Conselho Directivo
---------------
Basically the Dean of my previous Faculty of Economics replied to all saying an exhaustive investigation will take place due to the severe accusations brought forth by an Erasmus student [my "gf", ehehehh], leading to some measures and consequences [that I hope it will bring some order in that pigsty aka GRI].

Revenge is sweet... but NASTY! MUAHAHAHAH!!

Today I finally got my revenge from my previous Faculty of Economics International Office (GRI)!
I would be glad to mention all the atrocities and the immense incompetence of the two lazy women working there, but I would need to write a 873456873476 pages' book!!
I will simply leave you with the email I begged my gf [she was an exchange student for a semester under Erasmus Programme] to let me write instead of her.
I sent it not only to the my former GRI but also to the Head of my previous Faculty of Economics, together with the Polish International Office.
Therefore, I am expecting nothing less than a revolution in that shitty GRI but especially that her arse will be on fire no later than next Monday, just before I return to Portugal for a couple of days...
I did it not only for me but for all that suffered from that ridiculous Office! HURRAY :))
So, here it is:

"Dear Margarida, [Versão Portuguesa por baixo]

Thank you so much for sending my friend's (W...) grades only to me, not to him nor to my University, with "simply" 10/11 months delay!!
I would also like to know how many months more do I need to wait for my results?!!!
I, therefore, would like to thank for your kindness, remarkable competence and diligence, thanks to which my Semester in Portugal at FEUC was NOT taken into consideration for my final Diploma "Magister", issued 3 months ago, for which I had to retake the Semester in my University!!
In short, the Erasmus Programme did not exit in my Diploma and the responsible is the International Office from FEUC.
To conclude, I thank personally Margarida for not replying my emails, faxes, picking up my phone calls, but mainly for your rudeness whilst dealing with my coordinator J... M...l on the phone.

King regards,

A...

PS: I am sorry to disturb my former professors (with whom I had the opportunity to learn), and Head of the Faculty of Economics (Coimbra) with my email. I just did it so you can be aware of ridiculous situation which affected me, but also affects many other students (from what I know) that have to deal with this International Office - FEUC, not withstanding the bad image of the University reflected abroad! Thank you for understanding.

------------------

Querida Margarida,

Muito obrigada por enviar as notas do meu colega W... apenas para mim, e não para ele nem para a minha Universidade, com "apenas" 10/11 meses de atraso!!
Gostaria de saber quantos meses mais terei de esperar pelas minhas notas?!!!
Aproveito para agradecer a amabilidade, enorme competência e diligência, graças à qual o meu Semestre de estudos na Faculdade de Economia - Universidade de Coimbra NÃO foi tido em consideração para o meu Diploma final "Magister", que já foi emitido à 3 meses, e para o qual tive de repetir o Semestre na minha Universidade!!
Assim, o Programa Erasmus para o meu Diploma não existiu e o responsável é o Gabinete de Relações Internacionais - FEUC.
Para finalizar, agradeço pessoalmente à Margarida por não responder aos meus emails, faxes, não atender os meus telefonemas, mas principalmente pela forma rude com que lidou com a minha coordenadora J... M... pelo telefone.

Atenciosamente,

A...

PS: Peço desculpa por estar a enviar este email para os professores com quem tive o privilégio de aprender, e para os responsáveis da Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra. Apenas tomei esta iniciativa para que tenham conhecimento da vergonhosa situação que me afectou, mas também (pelo conhecimento que tenho) que afecta muitos outros estudantes que têm de lidar com este Gabinete de Relações Internacionais, não obstante a péssima imagem que é reflectida internacionalmente! Obrigado pela compreensão."

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH...
Up yours biAtchZz :P

It aint over til the fat lady sings!

And when I thought the worst was gone [last week's 3 exams in 24h]... more and more comes to take place!
Two interviews, my last exam, four papers [actually three, the other was handed in 3 min before deadline!], a trip to Portugal [including Cocorosie's concert in Coimbra hopefully], some stuff
to prepare for a possible future placement, my mandatory research project with a company or face disaster with the dissertation, and... I'm pretty sure there is more but I cannot even remember!
If all goes well, I'll be VERY relaxed from June until end of September and eventually start working in a VERY nice place where I can finally invite you to visit me without being embarrassed, like Coventry!!
Further developments to come soon... wish me luck :)

French party

The French party, was more like a chill out party, as everyone is in the middle of exams, papers, presentations and projects... so many were missing.
We decided to come outside enjoy the amazingly great weather, only a bit of grass was missing, as you can notice from the pic. Chris has more "grass" in his room than the whole Coventry in the parks!! LOL With or without grass, we drunk a lot. Not like Brits drink though... Only quality stuff :)
Check out the strawberry Mojito that Carlos [Columbia] got me...
Yesterday I just chilled, after waking up at 9am and not being able to fall asleep until 12h. Then I woke up at 5pm and went out for a walk in a park..
Honestly, I got depressed from such thing they call park!! Filthy, ugly and disgusting!! The only thing I can say is poor swans that have no other place to go, swimming around crisps, cans of beer, coke, and all sorts of trash you normally find them in a bin. Curiously, I noticed the bins were actually EMPTY!!! What a shit hole city [still slightly better than Luton though EHEHEHH :P]

Still alive.. but something went wrong!!

What a day!...
I finally get some sleep, 2h though, definitely not enough.
All done [exams] and no coming back.
Corp. Fin Strategy went rather well whilst Portfolio Management I basically screw myself!!!
How did I do that, yep... even I still don't get it... It's hard to swallow when I knew I was properly prepared. Actually, it was the module I was feeling more confident.
So, what happened?
I basically answered the wrong question!!
We have the choice of doing the exercise we feel more confident sometimes.
The first question was on Modern Portfolio Theory and CAPM, and the second had 1/2 of CAPM and 1/2 APT.
I focus my study on the first one, but on the exam I did not realise I was doing the wrong one until I saw a matrix from where I had to get the arbitrage free plane equation. It was too late to start from zero the question one.
So, I did my best from what I remembered of inverting matrices, but I guess it did not turn out that good since I got weird figures and two negative values!
Therefore, 50% of that question went directly to the bin, plus 20% that I am afraid I got wrong as well from another part of that question.
In short, my exam has now a ceiling at 65%..
Anyway, I am guessing I shouldn't have much difficulties passing.
On the other hand I am damn frustrated when I realised what I have done and worse, I knew exactly everything I had to do for the other question... must have been stress and exhaustion.
Thus, I'm gonna grab a beer :D

I OVERCLOCKED MY BRAIN!

In one and a half hour I'll be starting the second of 3 exams in 24h...
I spent most of my night awake studying for Corp. Fin. Strategy, from zero!!
This after sleeping just enough yesterday for Financial Options exam, which was too easy and short but I am not expecting a very high mark mainly due to the prof..
I am electric... I am really surprised how far our brains can handle stress and memorise stuff in less than nothing! I was able to memorise a dozen ratios just like that!
Ok, I have to confess I am using a secret weapon, KOREAN GINGSENG!!! LOLOL [Redbull F@#$ up my stomach, I don't like it!]
Might even not do much and be mostly placebo but I don't really care. My adrenaline levels are peaking...
There are 3 possible endings, either all goes well and I pass with good marks; or it goes badly but I still pass; or finally I pass out during one of the two exams today and I say goodbye to you all [actually the song playing right now is named "Dead Bodies", from "The Virgin Suicides OST" by Air] :P
Hopefully I'll end up partying tonight, since there is a French party at my place and lots of BOZZZZEZ :))
Wish me luck

Damn close to insanity!

Tomorrow is the big day!
The 1st of 3 exams this week...
Whilst in Portugal during the last years of my Bachelor I was passing one module per semester on average, now I am taking 3 in 24h!!... and I am going MAD!
I feel so damn tired..
I am pretty sure my brain is not resting even when I sleep, and I am trying to sleep between 6 to 8h a day, sometimes in bits, like now I just woke up from 1h sleep.

Besides this insane study I am having so many things to do simultaneously...
Trying to get rid of my accommodation contract, the Internship projects, a traineeship of 3 years after graduation, among many other things..
Regarding the internships, I decided earlier this week I was NOT going to New Zealand, now I got some news today about some funding coming from the Dean and I don't know any more.
I also got an email from Spain today...

I have to start preparing for some interviews concerning that traineeship to start in October. If I get to be selected you'll be able to visit me either in Paris, Madrid or Luxembourg...

In short, I need VACATIONS!!! but I won't get them until the end of May... BUAAAAHHHHH :(

I can't wait for the weekend to begin..

No pics this time... but still alive! ...just having a small break after dinner before atacking the Financial Options.
Tomorrow is time for Portfolio Management "revision", Wednesday for Options and Corp. Financial Strategy.
That means I am having a lotta fun studying day and night for the 3 exams I have this week.
Last week was Emerging Markets and the great Apple Inc. presentation, everyone liked it.
We practice once 1h before! Worse, we finished the presentation slides at 1am the night before after 16h non-stop!! [If anyone is interested having it let me know]
Can barely wait for Friday afternoon, French party in the evening at my place :))
Then, back to work, 4 papers to start and one exam yet to take.
Finally, off to Portugal on the 20th May [have to do my last paper there!!] and back to CV1 on the 29th May.
Then, either internship or dissertation... still haven't decided!
I was accepted to do an internship in New Zealand, quite interesting Corp. Fin. project but the business isn't.. hairdressers, many... franchising, school, internet product sale,... but I am not taking it! Nor the Digital 2.0 here in Coventry, similar but the company is very small..
So, if there is nothing interesting until I return from PT Im going for the dissertation.
ARCH, GARCH, E-GARCH, blablabla-GARCH models and a LOT of econometrics and hours matching Cumulative Abnormal Returns of share prices with Oil & Gas industry news.. 116 companies.. for the time span Jan2000~May2008..
WHY?! Why didn't I pick something much easier to do?!
Study time now, see ya probably next weekend..

Something about ME I did NOT know about!!

I finally opened the feedback I got from that presentation and interview with my professors, completely forgot I had it...
One of the persons in my panel during the interview/presentation has a long background in HR, whereas the other is from Marketing.
I got to know something that surprised me, since I believed to be more or less the opposite!
The overall comment was obviously good, otherwise I wouldn't be selected.
They were impressed by my slides, they liked my approach and interview too.
The final comment says I am a strong candidate although quiet [no surprises here!].
The main surprise for me was in the "Ares of Improvement", for both the presentation and interview, where they say I should be more OPTIMISTIC!! and BELIEVE IN MYSELF!!!! [they also say I should show "a bit more enthusiasm" on the presentation].
Those two things got me thinking...
They are actually right! Looking into my background: Portuguese are well known for being very pessimistic, even though I'm not that much... at least I tend not to show it!
But the main surprise came with the lack of belief in myself.
I guess that is why I skipped so many exams in the past, the Land Rover/Jaguar interview the other day.. besides others!!
I think I might have A LOT of 'that'! And then anxiety implodes inside me and cuts of all my willingness to go and "just do it"...
Actually I was having those "thoughts" like 1h ago but I need to overcome this S#@% and keep on my (latest) good work.
This time I use "American boy" from Estelle ft. Kanye West [love that "Daft Punk" beat in the background].
I need to go back to study now, brake is over and my mint tea ain't so hot any more.

Emerging bullshit!

Exam [Emerging Markets Finance] is tomorrow at 9.30am and study hasn't been much, mainly because I hate theories that do not take you any where and you learn little or nothing from them!
Therefore, I am struggling to put a minimal effort to study useless stuff as I did for such a long time in Portugal.
Instead of learning interesting features of emerging financial markets, how companies should approach those markets, valuing investment projects and companies,...
NO! We learnt simply theory and more theory, this module [and professor too] are a nullity. This should be taught to undergrads not to postgrad students! Bahhh..
Back to study, wish me luck... I will need it!

Ah! One last thing...
Another reason is the fact that I am wasting a great opportunity by not being tomorrow at 12am in AMSTERDAM for a series of interviews with ABN AMRO! :((

Hrvatska Republika

Here's the pics from my last fabulous days in Istria, Croatia:
Pula

City Hall and Roman Forum









Sunset from MY 11pound room :P









My 1st Shark meal.
Total 10 pounds!









Speechless!










Surfing a slippery rock!









Roman Amphitheatre









The only way to get to Briunij Islands









Briunij Islands
A view from Fažana [in Croatian you should read it as "vagina" but changing the "i" for an "a"!! LOL]






And now even better!!
Rovinj

North Side









South side view










Unfortunately it lasted just 4 magnificent days :(

Mum, I lost weight! I'm even more skinny...

I did lose 1/2Kg during the last 3weeks of holidays...
HOW?! No idea...
No gym, no study... a lot of laptop though!
Meals?!
On the pic below you can see my dinner:
. 200g of British Turkey [fried in a bit of Portuguese Olive Oil with green Pepper, Oregano, Basil and minced garlic]
. 175g of Farfalle
. NO SALT!
. Greek Feta cheese
. Some olives from Morocco
. Italian Sun-dried tomato
For sure it's not the food, maybe too much green tea!

Apple Inc.

I've been jumping between CV1 [my place] and CV3 [gf place] besides the group work on Apple's Strategy.
We started already with the SWOT analysis but still a long way to go, to the presentation as well...
Whilst getting to know the company in detail I took the opportunity to explore a iMac, mainly its applications.
Here's the result of one of them! LOL

The Chinese Pervert

The Banana Lover from Madagascar

The Brain Scratcher imitation of Bush!

The Mongolian Pride

The American Gangster

The Lebanese immigrant

The French

The Amazonian Spiderman

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Logo

I "Lykke" Li

I found this 22 years old Swedish blondie today... I am a "Little Bit" impressed, it is good :)
[click on the title for the link]

Finally back to courseworking!

I have to confess I've extremely lazy and did not worked as I wanted during these past 2 weeks of holidays.
I simply did some research for Portfolio Management and read a few journal articles and overlooked a book.
Holidays ends this week and therefore I have to get back to study, hard study... very very hard! I have a full month of papers, presentations and exams [5+1+5].
Some may say, that's what vacations are for...
I could have travelled around with Raul who invited me to join him for 1 of 4 possibilities. I do regret it now, even though I don't know if I would have enough funds for it... Sorry Raul! I wanted to go, especially to Riga [Latvia] and catch a night train to gorgeous St Petersburg [Russia].
I did have funds back then but I decided to take my gf for a short weekend break on her anniversary!
So, I will be taking her to Croatia, it had to be a warm place with SUN (pretty rare around here), more specifically to Pula + Brijuni [Pola + Brioni in Italian]. I need an energetic refreshment before the jungle of exams and papers, and there we'll rent some bikes and enjoy/relax for 3 days... taking advantage of the low cost airline and low season :)
Brijuni Islands

I LOST MY MOBILE...

...for 15 min :)
I just got it back, LUCKY me!
There are still a few honest people around.
Who ever return it to that front desk, THANKS.
Otherwise, it has insurance and basically I would have to report its lost and feel a lot of papers to get another one [don't tell anyone... I thought of "that" already... hihihi].

Dealing with Brits

It ain't easy, if you are simply honest they will screw you. If you are rude and aggressive they close the 'doors'.
The solution I find for it is just doing agree and understand their position and them attack with something they are not expecting that has big impact and make them think twice.
They then realise they are not dealing with 'another' student/person...
I make them believe they are in control before I give my strike... heheheh

Remember Jaguar/Land Rover assessment?
Well, I just got invited for the next. Knowing I was about to screw my chances I took a counter measure and send a short shocking email telling them I would not be able to go since I was on my way to Portugal due to my sister's "severe car accident"!! [btw, I do not have any sister]

Now, I just came from a meeting with the student accommodation regarding my contract. I am liable to pay the accommodation until September and knowing how strict and rigid Brits are I anticipated their ruthless "NO!" to shorten it 10 weeks based on the fact that I will not be here at all... I'll be leaving for the internship [somewhere outside Coventry that's for sure!].
So I took the normal steps going up on the hierarchy, understanding my liabilities but trying to open their minds and see further. I don't want to pay two rooms at the same time!!!
Still they find hard to understand that... so I spoke before to my professors and the Dean :P
I let them know today that he his aware of the situation and is taking measures...

Last week I asked the accommodation office to clean some mould I got in my bedroom window due to "Health reasons".
They said no!! And told me to clean it myself... and leave the window open.
I wrote them back: "I am sorry to know you will not be doing anything about it" and gave them reasons why:
1. I made clear I was post graduate student [does wonders :)] and had "better things to do"
2. I live on the ground floor and by Law I have to live in a "cage", it needs to have what I specified as "metal curtains"
3. I do ventilate when I am in my room IF it is not so cold outside and NEVER during the night.
Conclusion, not only I made them clean that mould I got them to fix my bedroom lock.

A close shave...

The shave, not haircut, was performed today in the morning... by ME!
Don't worry, it is not my first time.
I have done it at least 5 other times, never this short but close. I don't know when I'll be able to cut it again, too much study coming up!
Maybe Hitler will finally leave me alone now that I look like a Nazi skinhead! ehehehh

Flat Out part 2

I am amazed!
According to Ronnie from Nuenen - Netherlands, who was responsible for my extremely fast download the other day, his city is completely covered with fibre optic internet... WOW!!
For your information this city population is about 21K which for me is pretty small, even though it is probably a tourist destiny since Van Gogh lived there for 2 years.
I am jelous!

dEUS are back and dEUXX too!

"Ah.. never mind that space, let's get down to Earth!" from "dEUS - Vantage Point - The Architect" [Band - Album - Song #6] new 2008 album.

After a depressing environment surrounding me for a day I went back to the music cure, it always works on me...
Firstly something depressing such as "Lux Aeterna" from "Requiem for a Dream OST", one of the most brutally impressive movies I ever watched.
And then, after hitting the bottom I need something new to cheer me up...
Thanks to my favourite radio station RadarLisboa 97.8FM, streamed from "http://stream.radio.com.pt/ROLI-ENC-201", I got to know the new released album from the renovated dEUS [Belgium band].
Mysteriously their album appeared on my laptop drive whilst I was listening to their interview on that great radio.
I do not download illegal stuff, I just "borrow" to see if it is worth buying... :)
I will just post an idea I heard on the interview they were giving:
"...We EUROPEANS do not need England for anything..."
My comment is: sail them into US... I guess Bush would like to have a new island added to US territory, even without getting it economically or by attacking it!

To cure depression...

Nothing works with me...
I tried Need for Speed Most Wanted Black Edition [I finished Carbon long time ago in 4 days]..
I tried movies...
I tried music...
I tried getting excellent news: my friend Joaninha aka 'loirinha' just turned aunt yesterday...
I tried getting some sun... [not as much as I would get in Portugal now, since it's 25 degrees Celsius]
I tried sleeping...
I tried walking around the centre...
I tried sports...
I tried study...
I tried sex...
I tried drinking...
I tried doing nothing...

Then I thought... why not follow women's advice: go shopping!
And I did...
I tried groceries... didn't work!
I was about to try more shopping and I thought better: What would I like?
Travelling - out of question!
Car/Driving - out of question! I tried Top Gear instead...
...
and suddenly...
Gadgets - :)
So I tried it: bought myself a cheap one: Bluetooth adaptor for my laptop.
Then I installed a software to turn my mobile into a remote control of the laptop... REALLY NICE :)

Result, all these worked for a short period of time, I am still depressed though... :(

Stuck in a place I cannot get out of!

No complains about Coventry this time, even though the 3 weeks vacation are being spent in here!
This time is me...
Some might remember the massive anxiety I used to suffer before exams whilst studying in Coimbra, which made me quit prematurely from dozens of exams!
The day before yesterday it came back, not to annoy me about any exam but the interview with Jaguar/Land Rover... actually not the interview itself or the group dynamics but to perform the "role play" thingy.. Stupid.. so F#$% stupid!
As result I did not go!!
Commonly in this situations I get the most astonishingly impressive excuses to justify myself and the others around me why I should not go!!
I am aware of this stupidity, that I thought it was over, nevertheless it is sadly normally stronger than me.
Now I am certain I do not stand any chance, since I did not try to give my best... the equivalent to the worst scenario if I had given it a try.
I used to feel relief when I used to quit from exams, not I just feel anger, sadness and rage... I am depressed for a few days!

Flat Out!

I was about to leave to my gf's place for a late lunch when suddenly my BitComet speeds up to an unbelievable speed of light!!
Normally it does around 200~400Mb/s depending on the file, but this time even I got amazed with such speed, only comparable with T1 I had on campus in USA 3 years ago!!
So, check how to download a game in less than 20min baring in mind its 2.88Gb size...
The reason for this is this nice guy/girl: IP 88.159.164.124:1337
Thanks a lot mate, come back any time :)

Sorry to annoy some of you with this, I am pretty sure you'll be very jealous.. HIHIHIH! :P

100 posts already.. To celebrate: an EXPLOSION!!

It's been roughly 6 months since I first came to Coventry... time flies!
Today I got some bad news :(
I passed the CV selection for ABN AMRO's Investment Banking Days [IBD] 2008 edition..
Most of you are wondering how can this be bad right?!
The thing is, if I get to be invited for the Pre-selection (late April), and then to the real thing IBD '08 in May, I cannot go for any of those!
My final exams start exactly on top of the Pre-selection.
Even if I would miss the Emerging Markets Finance exam on the 28th April, and get selected for IBD '08, I will have nothing less than 3 exams in 2 days.
Guess what?! These are on 8th and 9th of May, whilst the IBD '08 will be held from the 7th~9th May.
Bloody crap!!

Fortunately next Wednesday I'll going to Leamington Spa [the place of the pervert ducks remember!] to be part of a series of interviews, group dynamic simulations, and so on and so forth...
The problem is the competition I'll be facing!! I'm the only one from Coventry University for sure and the rest will be mainly from Warwick U., U. of Birmingham and Aston U.!
On the other hand, since I worked at Volkswagen in the Finance Department might give me some other advantages based on the fact that it's for a placement in Jaguar/Land Rover.

Ah! The explosion... almost forgot.
As I was reading some articles on my laptop, suddenly the pint glass from where I was drinking my peppermint tea explodes. Luckily there was less than a third of it left.
Otherwise it would be not only a shower of glasses but tea as well!
I can see some possible explanations for it.
1. Cheap quality of the glass.
2. The pint glass was made to hold for cold temperatures [beer]
3. Hitler is still after me!!
4. Early celebrations of Achal's Bday [29th March]
5. New Research&Development allowing the glass to react adversely in case of misuse, that is, any liquid other than beer.
(...)
I was quite fortunate baring in mind that I could have one eye less if I hadn't react instinctively putting my left arm on the way, avoiding a big chunk of glass to hit my face!!
Life goes on, it's weekend... but I have to work anyways.
Portfolio Management paper is taking forever because I am spending lots of time reading extra material.

Breakfast

Thanks to Dounia, I just had a fabulous croissant for breakfast.
It wasn't just a croissant, it was a real French one from Paris...
[actually it wasn't just one, I did not resist and got a second one]
Merci beaucoup Dounia :)

Thanks to 'Gunia' [gf] I had a great Polish brunch on Eastern morning.
A typical one with all Polish food you can get in UK, including herring [raw fish]!!

White Coventry

It's been snowing in Coventry for the last 3 days, every now and then...
You cannot imagine how lovely Coventry looks dressed in white... everything white... :))

Unfortunately... neither can I !!!!

The snow melts almost instantly since it is not cold enough :(
I wish Coventry would look nice for once instead of the Industrial Revolution dark red [bricks] and grey [the rest, including the sky]!!

Leamington Spa's ORGY!!

I was told Leamington Spa was more pleasant than Coventry, nonetheless being even smaller!

Less brick constructions, a couple of nice buildings and places, river, etc.
Actually, they were correct. It was indeed better looking than CV1. Not much though...
It is a typical "spa looking town", with old people all around.
The buildings, those looked a bit nicer than in Coventry (there were only 2 which worth a pic!), but for someone who's been in 18 countries and over 100 cities, well... what can I say... it wasn't the worst, but I've seen way much better!
Curiously there were a kind of nice garden with lots of duck, extremely pervert!!! Check out the pics.

St Paddy's Guinness Night

Nikhil's Bday...

Words? What for?!

If you are wondering about the blonde, how can she be fit if she's British?! Easy,... if you saw her dancing you'd immediately realise she's a professional stripper (besides her friends, about 4 other strippers!), not commenting on the outfit because they all (British girls) wear this kind of clothes! LOL
The 15's old butterfly gang.. At least two wouldn't be able to fly high... maybe even leave the ground! MUAHHAH
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. aaah!... I don't see this kind of shitty spacial suit not even in Carnival!!! MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHH...
The games.. F@#$ing ridiculous and stupid! Prize award: a free pint! On the left, the girl that eats dog food, licks men toes and armpit/axillary fossa (just lovely), strip naked, kiss/licking another girl (nothing special), Irish traditional dancing (boring)... and the guy on the right who also strips (as you can see!), also eats dog food and kissed the ugliest guy in the place (nasty!!). Besides them the main figure was the presence of Hawi Potte from China (not in the pic) who had to stand all the game with one leg up, taking a piece of cloth each time he put the leg down, poor guy ended up in boxers.. that one of the girls pull down.. poor Hawi!

And finally, part of our gang...D (from Dharminder - back left), a Nigerian guy friend of Yemi's (back right), and Nikhil (Happy Bday French guy - front). Who got punched in the face for apparently looking at a girl and then confront her boyfriend's deadly eye contact!!! Hakim got also one even without moving or saying a single word!! Unfortunately the rest of the crew wasn't present at that time, some smoking outside and me taking pics of Gunia (gf) and Dounia [French] on the stage (after the show was over :P)! LOL

Your Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten List

Dear Luis Rocha Vieira:

Your paper entitled, "A FDI Case of Success: The Portuguese Automotive Cluster" was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for MME: Economic Growth (Topic).

(...)

As of 03/18/2008 your paper has been downloaded 16 times. You may view the abstract and download statistics at the URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1088205.

Your paper may be listed in the Top Ten for other networks or journals and if so, you will receive additional notices at that time. If your paper was classified for additional SSRN journals, you may receive this announcement prior to distribution of your abstract in those additional journals.

(...)

Thank you for your participation in the Social Science Research Network. We welcome any comments or suggestions and hope you will submit additional papers to the SSRN eLibrary.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Jensen
Chairman
Social Science Research Network

-------------------------------------------

Thank you all... even though 16 downloads/57 views is not that much anyway... :)

Literacy Level 0

It is with great disappointment that I have to conclude that AT LEAST half the British are dumb, stupid, illiterate,...
They are closing the gap to Americans really fast!!!
This conclusion is drawn from a daily semester's life in England plus the comments of several friends [including some British!!!].
I could give an immense list of examples you would crack down in tears laughing on the floor... but I won't do that!
Some of you have been and even lived in England before, thus know how ridiculous/outrageous some things are...
I am obviously not the most intelligent person in the world, and these people probably did not have the same opportunities as I did to study (endlessly :P).
Moreover, I also know a couple of British that are definitely not illiterate and it is not really fair to generalise.
Therefore, I'll leave you with a comment of a British with more than 50years of experience:

"rubbish people"

Internship vs Dissertation

To do or not to do, that is the question?
I was selected to do the Internship Module instead of the Dissertation.
The difference is simple..
Dissertation = 12000 words [topic to be found on a previous post]
Research Project/Internship = 7000 words report + 1500 words reflective piece [whatever that is!!] + presentation of project to the company's top management
Before you start making your minds, be aware that the Internship is NOT paid!
Secondly, the placements were designed for MBA students and this year was allowed MSc students to apply as well. So, the placements for Finance lack [8 out of the 24 are from Finance], besides that, they aren't what you'd consider great places to work. Instead, they are mainly in small and start-up companies where we'll be conducting a research project for them, not the traditional internship.
Hence, I have to agree that I expected something different but now I realise I actually prefer this approach to the traditional internship.
We'll be challenged to put forth something in the line of what consulting companies are normally hired to do. I'll probably learn much more than if I do the Dissertation or a normal Internship.
My concern is only regarding the placements, most are within West Midlands and only one in Birmingham!! There is only two placements outside UK [for now] in Girona [Spain] and New Zealand.
Besides these, you can find from small gaming companies to National Health System, or Yorkshire+HSBC and maybe Bank of New York [London]...
For now it is still too early to think about a final destination, and yes I am more inclined to do the "Internship" even though I'd like to do the Dissertation as well!!
I'll wait for further details on the projects to conduct in each placement and for which companies and where, then comes another selection criteria... The companies will decide based on our CVs and an interview with them.
Suggestions are very welcomed...

PS: I have borrowed New Zealand's travel guide from the library.. LOL :)

Hitler sent the SS to set me on fire!

Hi there!
Still alive.. at least for now..
From the title you can see that Hitler is still after me!
Yesterday night the building I am living at in Singer Hall [n.33] was on fire on the 2nd floor. Police and Fireman came as the fire alarm went on..
Fortunately I was not there, but all my belongings were, including the "bixo-do-gUImaS" [laptop]!!
Even though my flatmates were trying to persuade me to believe it was the blackie from upstairs that passed out whilst smoking a joint and set his chair on fire. I am sure this was Hitler work, and this time he sent the SS after me...
The result of this was that my French flatmate's room was inspected by the Police and the police officer reaction was "This room smells a lot to weed. Do you smoke inside your room?". He cooperated with the Police and gave them his joint but also managed to elude the policeman and did not admit having more weed in his room even though the police asked if they could search the room!!! Fortunately for him they didn't, as the weed was not hidden, just under his PC screen!!! LOL

Another late night!

One paper less to go..
One more night with no sleep..
One bunch of white hair coming up..
One more class skipped so I could finish the paper on time..
One lunch less in my stomach..
One hundred I wish getting!! :))

Hitler is back in town, that is Coventry.. and he's stalking ME!!

Check out the latest news on BBC News online: "World War II Bomb found in city - Parts of Coventry city centre have been closed off after what is believed to be an unexploded World War II bomb was unearthed on a building site."

I was supposed to go to Sainsbury's to buy some groceries this afternoon, just 50m away from the place where the WW II Bomb has been found...

I guess Hitler is the one after me!!!
First he attempts on my life when I woke up last Monday morning in a GAS CHAMBER that almost blew up [read post below "Dounia's attempt ..."]!
Now he after me with a BOMB!!!
I'm guessing next attempt he'll try 'Panzercake' me!!
Or even better, use his Luftwaffe and 'Focke' me in a way that I'll become a strainer!!!

PS: Definitions...
"Panzercake" - a pancake made using a German Panzer tank from WW II
Luftwaffe - German for Air Force during WW II
"Focke" - the act of 'fucking' someone using the machine guns of a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft aka Butcher Bird from WW II.

Internships

Today Interview/Presentation results were announced:
Congrats to Finance students, most of us got through [about 7 of the 9] :))
I was one of them... from a overall universe of +-120 initial applications, less than 25 made it!
This Friday morning we'll get to know the available placements and projects to develop in each one of those internships.
I heard some are abroad as well :))
The fact that many of the Finance applicants were selected might difficult the final placement selection.
This final decision belongs to the Companies themselves based on our CVs and interviews..
Hopefully I'll end up in New Zealand or some other nice place for about 2months doing an interesting internship. Otherwise I'll dedicate myself to do the Dissertation :P

Dounia's attempt to BLOW my life away!!

It was 10.05am today...
As I wake up in the morning my fabulous accurate nose actually saved my life!!!

I am NOT KIDDING!!!!!

Today, Death sneaked at me from downstairs... but I stood firmly and overlooked it from above, fortunately fast enough to save my life!

Everyone is normally aware that GAS has NO smell, the artificial smell is put for situations like today's... [sorry but I've actually tears falling as I write this post listening to the sad "Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Mysteries" song and realising how close I was from being turned into ashes!]
(...)

So, I wake up normally and quite early, mobile shows 10.05am, and I take the usual 5min to get up [actually is more like 15min!].
I get up and suddenly feel a strange smell. I wasn't able to recognise it immediately firstly, because I was still sleepy, and secondly since I started to get dizzy..
My nose was driving me after the source of the smell. I go down the stairs and dizziness dramatically increases as I barely avoid falling..
I get to the kitchen and notice the sun reflect on the stove seemed like something was burning... but it wasnt! Not anymore...
For some unknown reason the water boiling had disappeared and there was no flame anymore!!!!
Somehow I used the last bit of conciousness to turn it off, turn on the the air extractor above the stove, open the window... breath in... go to the front door, and using the keys that were on the table sit down at the front door for a while (in boxers and tshirt).
Then breath 'British fresh air' before going back in to open all the windows and doors...
Whilst doing that I realised one HUGE detail.. TURN OFF THE HEATING SYSTEM!!!
The heating system at their place has a timer, and yesterday I made it be off most of the time girls would be at work and not at home, only once in a while to keep the temperature more or less stable...
Guess what?!
The timer was off between +- 9am (time they start working) and 10.15am!!
For those not aware how it works, there is a device that uses gas to heat up water that flows through pipes around the house.
If the heating system would go on, there would certainly be a flame to light up the gas that heats the water...
...I think you can figure the result if that happens considering the massive amount of gas in the kitchen.
To make matters worse, houses in England are quite "economic", what I call "paper houses"!! Every wall is made of paper except the sides, which are brick!
I am absolutely sure the whole house would BLOW UP!! ...me included, and with a bit of "luck" the neighbour as well... maybe even the postman since he came around that time.

My dear friends, may I remind you to enjoy life...

Deep FRIED Mars Chocolate Bar!!!!!!!

Amazed?!?!

Curious to know what will come out of this?!?!

Ready??

So here's something to ruin your appetite for a very long time...

I honestly don't know how to start this.. it is disgusting and stupid... How can they do this?!?!
Ok... In a discussion at the fantastic e-Learning centre I just wrote about one of the British girls came out with this AWKWARD revelation in one of her very low intellectual conversations [the normal one is: HAH! I wanna die.. I'll never drink this much again.. I don't remember anything from yesterday!! _THIS HAPPENS EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! no further comments on that..]
So, the revelation: British say it is an invention of the crazy 'dangerous' Scottish.

[Why dangerous? Check this out "Swords ban to beat violent crime - A crackdown on the sale of swords has been launched as part of a campaign to tackle knife crime and violence." at BBC News.]

Going back to our future favourite dish which is now widely spread across the country and becoming recognised as one of the only 3 National Dishes, after the "'Prime' beef" and "Fish and Chips".
You saw the title, yes it was correctly written... THEY DO FRY CHOCOLATE, mainly Mars bars.
Finding it hard to believe?! Here's a pic to 'wake' you up...
Not really satisfied with evidences??!
Finding hard to believe such atrocity is being conducted on poor tasteful Mars bars?!?!
Go check it for yourself on Google search: type in "Deep fried Mars bars" and be SHOCKED with the amount of pics and recipes available!!!!!!
SHIT!!! (sorry about the language!) I even found it on WIKIPEDIA, BBC News and The New York Times!!! (obviously Americans could not let British 'overtake' them in cooking skills!)

E-Learning for DUMBS!!

Here's something to cheer you up a bit..
As you are probably aware by now, my gf is living and worki... no being exploited whilst working for Indians in some kind of scheme where they take advantage of International European students paying a miserable salary.
Worse, they use them to get money from the Government and European Union, while they have to perform simple and basic jobs in an e-learning centre.
This e-learning centre is mainly used by VERY DUMB English (including the British girls working there!!) and a few foreigners trying to get some FREE certificates.
To make matters MUCH worse, the company has a database of names of everyone that ever took a course there, whether they are in Coventry, UK or perhaps even DEAD!!
All these people's names are being used to enrol them in all available courses they have, since they are normally free and funded by the British Government to improve literacy and education levels among the population.
Well, I said more than enough already... so I stop here.
If I get murdered in the near future you'll know why and who did it!! LOLOL

More of the same

Nothing extraordinary to report this time.
My laptop was kidnapped by my gf last weekend, I couldn't study, play, just relax and sleep a lot! [by "a lot" I mean 8-10h]
I went to Birmingham last Saturday, the weather was great besides the wind, lots of people all around, even after 5pm!!!!! Something that normally (should read ALWAYS) does not happen here in "Coventown"...
Today I start working on my assignments, papers and presentations.

A first class reseach Topic

This was the comment from the Research Methods module leader on my topic.
Grades came out at 9am today, I got 72 (Distinction) after my 10% discount from the original 80.5 mark of my research proposal done within a week time.

Now, I can say I am a bit "touched" by alcohol from lunch! Im not that used to drink any more since here in Coventry every thing is pretty boring.
In spite of drinking some German pilsner beer and red wine from Chile I am feeling really sleepy from not sleeping enough last night after working out at the Gym, even sending emails to the MSc Finance course leader "Winston" at 3am!!
The lunch was at Brown's Pub with a couple of nice friendly people from my Master and the recently arrived Greek group that join us for 2nd semester.

I'll get some rest since I am supposed to go out at night for a Bday party or something!!... She's a British girl who's turning 21 (I guess) from my gf's work.. One of the self proclaimed "ACTIVE BITCHES" LOLOL

Need for Speed day

Ah... So good!
After Xmas vacations I finally have a tiny break.. 2/3 days off really feels good.
I can get back and do what I left behind, organise study, assignments, papers, work, life and even "Need for Speed" :P
So, today, I skipped a class at 9am since I went to bed too late chatting with Lusi (in Venezuela)... Then I went for a British/American lunch at Subway with my gf, the only fast food I eat besides KFC in Lisbon with Joao :)
Then, bought some folders and staples, played NFS for 3h, sent some emails, and now I just came back from the Gym.
Feels good to be lazy again for a few days...
Weekend is coming and assignments' preparations and study will commence asap!
Cheers

Day off

Ah!
What a relief...
After such a long time (lost counting of months!) I had nothing urgent to do, only homework for Corp Fin Strategy tomorrow. But, what's that compared with dissertation topics, interviews, presentations or 3000 word assignments... Bah!
So, I enjoyed the day off, slept until 11.30am [no classes today too].
In the afternoon, had a REAL coffee at Delicatessen and it did taste good, a bit burnt but way way much better than any other outside Portugal or Italy.
I also enjoyed a nice warm sunny day, very rare around here though.
Now, I got to now my paper from the Summer IP-Poitiers [France] was accepted by SSRN and you can now download it whenever you feel bored and wanna get even more!!!
[click here for link]
Gym time now... see ya soon.

Rally

I did it again!
Another late night [I think I heard this before] without sleeping... and handing in 3min just ahead of the ringing bell. Ufff! :)

So, here it is the magnificent topic, that I might even end up not doing!!

"Assessing the key news and events driving share prices of Oil & Gas companies."

I think I haven't told you, there is a possibility of being selected to do an internship instead of the dissertation. For that I need to do a presentation and be interviewed by both profs and a small selection of companies, and be better than most of the others since there is only placements for about 15 of the 300 Master students.
Anyway, there are less now after being shortlisted to a group of about 60..
No great expectations, besides I have another interview coming up.

I'm BACK!

Can U F@&$ING believe!!

For some reason I decided to do a bit more research on past literature on my new topic...
Guess what I just found??!
Yes, that's right... a very similar article from 2005.
I honestly hope the approach is totally different from mine or I'll... I'll...
(...)

...I'll pretend I never found it, at least for now! MUHAHAHAHH :P
Tomorrow is the last day, and as you can notice, I'm still struggling with the preliminary literature review while next door neighbours are throwing a party and I can feel their bass shaking my desk!! Bastards don't have consideration for a hard working student such as me!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Better now, going back to work..

A long way to go... still!

I do have a topic, a few literature available to follow and discuss... but, out of the 3000 words I have about the same 400 since last week, and the final late delivery date is coming up fast [1.5 days to go!!!] already with a 10% discount on my mark!
I'll be back soon, hopefully with some good news :/

Well down the Well!

I screwed it up...
Remember when I say I had a topic and I'd meet Monday 9am deadline??
Well... I don't have a topic AGAIN!!! even though the deadline was postponed to Wednesday 9am!

I need gym and sleep.. after spending a weekend seating on a sofa reading and studying for this lovely topic which no longer will exist, since I have no access to Thompson SDC Database.. :(
Anyway, the topic was going to be EXXXTREMELY demanding.
I think the next will be a easy one.. I might even go for the advice of one of my professors: REPLICATE someone else's work in for some other industry, country, sector, etc..

My dead topic:

"Hunting for Value via Diversification: an empirical approach on UK companies’ M&A in glamorous Emerging Markets."

Tiny spotlight in a MASSIVE BLACK HOLE!!

Just wanna let you know I'm doing fine and after spending several weeks trying to pick a topic, I decided for one in the last 5min!!
I had to, the research proposal is to be handed in before Monday 9am!!!!
After that, I'll post some more news..
Like: elder women, pop singers and drugs, bombastic revelations!! (Soon)

Dissertation Topic

Haven't found it yet!!!
Almost a week left... Time is running out quickly.

I managed to get ALL passwords and log in for the Reuters Database though. For that I'd like to thank my MSc responsible who promptly gave them to me, regardless of that friendly Investment Management prof who believes all accesses are restricted to his Master students :P

Btw, if any of you have accesses to ISI Emerging Markets, Thompson and/or Economatica (Brazilian) Databases please let me know, I'd be EXTREMELY grateful.

Time for a shower and head to my Emerging Markets Finance class...
Cheers.

Where is it?

I got my results from Financial Statement Analysis, and both coursework from Int'l Financial Markets and Quantitative Methods for Finance...
I passed them all, that's great, but as usual the Accounting grade was indeed a disaster and I managed to pass with such slim margin, so slim.. so slim you can barely see it!! [47 combined with the coursework (55), was expecting better from both though]
I do "love" accounting immensely..
Wanna try to guess what was the last module I went for examination during my BA Economics?? ehehehh
Regarding the others, the grades were more or less the expected, 61 (Merit) for Int'l Fin Markets and 93 (Distinction) for Quantitative..

URGENT: In need for a Topic!

No developments regarding my dissertation topic :/
I have less than 2 weeks, with classes, to turn in my Research Proposal with a preliminary literature review included...
I'm so screwed up!!!

Guess what?!

Try guessing who'll be arriving in less than 2h to Coventry?

That's right... guni :)

Societe' General's rogue trader

The story of an average guy who f***ed it all, and SG to hide some other losses on the way in my opinion.
Strangely seems like he actually saved us from a recession... with his Eur 4.9bn loss!! Just more than 4 times the amount that led British Barings to close their doors in a similar "shituation" :P
He was being quite "lucky": [extracted from here]

"he ended 2007 in a "winning" position but one that he could not reveal to the bank without admitting the huge risks, and illegal liberties, he had been taking. He therefore set out, Mr Bouton said, "deliberately to take losing positions, so as to wipe out his previous potential gains".

The problem was that Mr Kerviel's "losing" positions were much too successful – something Mr Bouton described as a "Greek tragedy" but which might equally be called a French farce."

You can read more on Independent, TimesOnline or search on Google.
Well done mate, you were brilliantly stupid!

Cookie Recovery Centre

Hi!
My name is Luis... and I am IKEA cookie addict!
Among other things, yesterday I bought about 2kg of cookies [hundreds of them :)] in the new IKEA here in Coventry...
Can't wait to get my teeth on the ginger ones.. or the sweet oat crisps and chocolate...
NHAMMMY :)

Apple Macbook Air

If an image says more than a 1000 words, now imagine 3...

Click here to check out the specs of this beauty...

PS: If you are my friend, buy me one of these... pleeeeeeease?! :)

1st tryout...

I am indeed amazed with such cooking skills!
If I don't manage to get a job after graduation I'll open a restaurant of creative cooking...
You're obviously invited to come and give it a try, 1st time will be on me :)
Why am I flattering my cooking abilities?
I cooked this delicious cod fish like they do in Alentejo, Portugal... and except for the cod being a bit salty, it was damn good...
I think I never tried that dish in Portugal before, and just using imagination I came out with something really tasty...

Let's hope my dissertation topic also comes out like this!!! :/

Not hilarious, simply... I believe South Africa.. ehh.. better America

You better watch this Miss Teen USA 2007 South Carolina, she's got a great future ahead of her, much brighter than Bush... I believe! ehehehh

click here!

Such as and... watch this one too... lol

click here!

Something HILARIOUS

Australian report on American's intelligence:

click here!


and now, only to be fair, the British turn:

click here!

no comments!

Cosmetic Surgeries Rankings

After a small discussion I will post the rankings I found according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Venezuela isnt number 1 in plastic surgeries!

Here's the ranking: (surprise.. surprise)

#1 United States: 90,992
#2 Mexico: 52,956
#3 Brazil: 47,957
#4 Japan: 42,842
#5 Spain: 40,164
#6 Germany: 23,140
#7 France: 21,170
#8 Argentina: 17,698
#9 Switzerland: 16,073
#10 Italy: 14,784

I have to be honest... I am surprised to see Brazil not in first place and Japan in 4th!!
Regarding Venezuela I am sure they did not released the numbers since it's not even on the top 35!! And according to my perception should be n.3 behind USA and Brazil in 1st (probably the illegal were not taken into account :P)

More surprisingly is the number of surgeries per capita [per 100,000 people]!!! Just check it out:

#1 Switzerland: 214.621
#2 Cyprus: 185.738
#3 Spain: 99.561
#4 Lebanon: 85.468
#5 Greece: 77.803
#6 Hong Kong: 73.866
#7 Australia: 66.227
#8 Slovenia: 52.312
#9 Mexico: 49.863
#10 Sweden: 48.056

HOW's THAT??!!

Prime beef

Ah.. Just finished my fabulous lunch [see pic], not beef though but stripes of pork with Indian spices... very spicy indeed :) Nhammy!

Whilst eating my lunch after almost starving to dead in a 3h class on Research Methods and still struggling to decide on a topic; I came up with a good research approach: (Many women will want to kill me for this! Hopefully others will come to rescue me...)

"Is Meat quality and dishes' directly related to a tasty Prime Beef? A Continental/Country approach evaluation."

First, let me tell you a discovery I made while cooking my lunch:
Do you know how to fry "french fries" in the oven?? Yes, fry in the oven!!
Simple, you go to Iceland and buy a bag of frozen potatoes, you put some in a metallic plate with potatoes into the gas oven at full power and after cooking the rest of your dish it is done! No oil, olive oil, butter or any kind of grease added... potatoes had more than enough... ehehehehh
I wonder if British were so clever to make them this way... or maybe not... if you look around more than half (being very optimistic) of British girls are overweight (being again very optimistic).

From this starting point I evolved to a deeper analysis, as Indian food is damn delicious and the only few cute and slim girls around are either Indian or... well, that's all!
So, I used Indian spices to disguise the blandness of my British pork for lunch. Not that the pork was bad, but I cannot say it was good either.
Then I thought, food is good and dishes tasty In SouthWestern Europe and Mediterranean countries in general, including Slovenia and Croatia :)
In Asia the best cuisine for me is Japanese followed by Korean and Thai...
Africa.. I don't have knowledge enough to draw any conclusions but seems exotic even though not as much as spicy India.
America we can split in half, USA [10 times worse than UK] in one side where food is terrible [Canada I don't know]; and the rest, from Mexico until the bottom of Argentina where you can find (in my opinion) the best and tastier meat...
Just thinking of Brazilian, Venezuelan and Argentinian makes me hungry again, that picanha is amazingly delicious, I personally recommend it..
A regard on the South American animals, their meat is delicious no doubt but sometimes gets difficult to find out if it is really meat or not...! [if you know what I mean]. As for USA, they are using genetic modified meat, no comments! Europeans keep refusing it and Asians stick to their health food, these two seem to be the future... ehehh

On the other hand, we have the women, Miss World, top models and so on...
Analysing it, you find obviously Venezuela and India in the top, but surprisingly.. what the hell is UK doing on the podium?!
Ah! I know, Miss world started there long time ago, so the titles they have must be from that time, or from the huge amount of Indians, Chinese and now Polish immigrants that probably were able to give them these titles. USA seems to get most of its beauties from South American immigrants or Hawaii and Puerto Rico as well.
Africa also shows good results, and Europe [besides UK] has Swedish blondies to bring us some joy, although everyone is crazy about Italian girls, even French or Spanish. Whilst Eastern Europe is now opening its "blonde market" towards globalisation, me being one of the lucky bastards :)
Regarding Asia, China recently won Miss World, and I have to agree I my opinion is biased when it comes to Asian girls.. all seem so cute and slim..

Therefore, could there be a correlation between the quality of food and the quality of women?
No idea, you try finding out, I already spent too much time with this, gym time now :P

The latest :))

Dear Luis,

Further to your completion of the online ability tests [the numerical and verbal reasoning exercises], I am pleased to inform you that you have been successful.

The next stage of our selection process is a sift by recruiting Line Managers. We will contact you with information regarding the outcome of this stage in due course.

Please ensure you check your emails frequently for further details.

Yours sincerely,

XXX
BAE Systems

Plus, I got also invited for a phone interview with Wolseley, to take the previous mentioned numerical and reasoning tests with Land Rover & Jaguar and Nomura.
On the other hand I was rejected by Royal Bank of Scotland, for a Risk Management position in their Graduate Programme. Besides this, many of my favourite placements closed last Nov and Dec 2007 for September 2008 intake!!!
I cannot complain for now, only started sending CVs last week :))

BitComet at full throttle...

Download speed: 253Kb/s
Not bad!! Not bad at all :))

Night out...

Last night I was getting desperate to go out...
I managed to convince my flatmates to have a drink at home at least.
Fortunately Carlos [Colombian] showed up with a pack of Buds.. Then came Julien [German].. Latter a bunch of french, some of then pretty fired up on alcohol already..
We started drinking Vodka and White Rum from Martinique.
I took a break to finish a reasoning test for my BAE Systems' job application.
When I got back, Chris was feeling pretty happy :)) already... he further continued drinking and smoking until... until he became in love for the toilet, he had nothing in his stomach except for alcohol [no dinner though]... Not the best thing to do.
So we left him resting and recovering while we went to a pub for a drink.
I had to pay 2 pounds to get in because those NUS FUCKERS haven't sent my NUS card!! It's been 4 months now!! I sent them a couple emails already and nothing.
So... where was I? Ah! Drinking of course... what was supposed to be a Carlsberg pint that tasted like piss!
Where were we? In a pub surrounded by ugly british fat disgusting white almost naked girls... Not a nice thing to look at, believe me...
Oh! Did I mentioned they were drunk as well? Forgot that one, sorry.
We put up with that for about 30min and head home, I lost all my party mood and so did they.
It's strange how they can be 4856487593487 times worse than the british girls you find in London, and even these are mostly worse than almost any capital city in Europe!
Yes, you should feel sorry for me... good that I have a cute Polish girlfriend :P

Hazardous Jobs

It was lunch time, actually 3pm, and I wanted to have some Basmati rice with me indian chicken Madras.
Meanwhile, I came to fill up another job application..
The thing is, these applications take forever to finish, the first one took me about 2h.
Now, even though I am doing mostly copy/paste of standard information it still takes roughly half an hour.
Suddenly, the great perfume coming out from the Basmati rice turned into a disgusting smell of burnt Basmati!!
So, I rushed to the kitchen and realised my tasty rice was being consumed by fire.
Fortunately I was able to save most of it, avoiding the bottom and sides, enough for lunch and dinner as previously planned.. seems like I only burnt the surplus LOL :)
Finally I spent further 10min washing Christophe's burnt pan :/

Curiosities

I had over 200 teas since last October 2007 :)

I HATE... No, it's damn annoying everywhere I go someone has its mobile playing music, not for him/her, but loudly so all people around can hear the crap music they love!! Why can't they just use some headphones like everyone else!
One of these days, I'll get some powerful speakers for mine and play some Mongolian Rock, Rammstein, Traditional Chinese/Japanese/Korean music or even Buraka Som Sistema [sorry for those that like this crap :P]..
No, wait... I know... I'll play the whole OST from the best Portuguese amateur movie ever: "O Ninja das Caldas", specially the "Forca Toni" :))
MUHAHAHH

Dissertation Topic

I have basically 4weeks to get my topic and literature review done!
The problem is:
I HAVE NO F***ING CLUE WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT!!
I've got only a general idea...
So, I've been downloading academic journals for the past days and I think I might have more than enough already... but, are they relevant? Ain't got the slightest clue..
Therefore, before I continue my search for the perfect topic and endless download of papers, I better start reading those 56 articles!!
Hmmm... I better exclude some, I don't really think I'll read them all...

Btw, seems like bureaucracy here is pretty the same as in Portugal, lazy... lazy... lazy!
My final grades from the 1st semester will only become definitive by mid-Feb. when the Board of Profs meet and agree on our grades. That 75% I got from Stock Market Inv is not the final. Well, probably it is but I just have to wait and see...

Dinner and reading to commence...

...and Kobenhavn aka Copenhagen

Malmo revisited

As promised... the pics [some at least]

Malmo:

Remember those cartoons?

The Government Liquor Stores!!
Huge queue to get some alcohol. You can only get normal beers in supermarkets!




Snowing and freezing wind in the old town centre.






I really liked this building...

Jana in London

This last friday I finally got over the 1st semester here at CBS [Coventry Business School] and went relaxing to London, where I meet my friend Jana, from Slovakia.

Once again I got the same weather as usual, SUN :P
Yep, every single time I went to London [4 times] during different times of the year [May '04, July '05, November '07, January '08], and in all of them I never got rain or cloudy weather! Lucky me :)
Here's some pics [only have mine for now] of the long walks around London with my friend..
Ah! One detail.. We found our roommate Lucca [Italian] jumping on a girl from Guatemala.. he met her at Greenwich Observatory a few hours before.. LOL

Amazing magic trick didn't quite work out!

Before I post about this London's weekend I'd like to share with you a pic I got from a friend. I think the image speaks for itself...Place: Maia, Portugal!!! lol (I thought these things only happen in 3rd world countries...)

Warp speed

Uhhh!.. Seems like it is here to stay...
My internet is extremely fast since yesterday... ehehheh
I think they understood the fact that I will need lots of movies to watch and updated the speed.
My BitComet is a blast... I can get a movie, legal... everything legal of course, in less than one hour!! :))
I've seen it downloading at 234kB :P

One more thing before I get dressed and head to the Quantitative exam.. I went with a friend to speak to the Master responsible yesterday to complain about this fabulous prof of ours.
We'll be writing a letter with full details, that you probably will have access to some details for your joy, to be delivered to Winston (our main Master tutor) that he will take to the Head of University..
Someone is about to have problems... and I might be one of them if things work as they do in Portugal, hopefully not and I won't have to put up with incompetence in Emerging Markets Finance in the 2nd semester since it is the same prof tutoring it.
Wish me luck.. I'll be back around 12 for lunch, rest a bit and pack to go to London for the weekend :P

Heroes

Sounds like our tuesday evenings will soon become what they used to be here at home.
I've been told the strike in US ended and the series are restarting again :))

Im arriving from the gym again. I told you I needed to get out of this room!
Two days in a row.. It didn't happen for almost a year now!!! I realised I have time for everything, even though I had 2 papers to deliver this week and still have exam friday. It gives me more energy and I can free my mind from Economic and Biz problems.
Im gonna sleep like a baby tonight.. so damn tired.
Shower time, dinner, print the paper to turn in tomorrow morning, so I'll have all day to study.. Good that I knew some stuff before and that the paper was on the same materials.
Meanwhile I am downloading (no I am not! I didn't write download... I meant rent/borrow from somewhere very legal :)) "30 days of night", "Saw IV", "Elizabeth - The golden age", "Bee movie" and "Hitman"... and monday after returning from a weekend in London I will install Colin McRae DIRT :D
If you have good suggestions for movies to watch let me know.. [I'll have to watch "Gegen die Wand" or someone will kick my ass!! Roit?
Arrivederci amici

Zubrowka

Ehhrr... How can I put this...
I just had a shot of Zubrowka [Polish Vodka 40%] alone in my room!!!!!
Yep, I am freaking out here...
I seriously need to go out!
Yesterday night me, Yemi [Nigeria] and Nikhil [France] were working together and comparing our findings from Quantitative Methods for Finance coursework, until 2am.
Then, I decided it was early still, since the night before I TRIED to go to sleep at 2am and I wasn't able to sleep until 4am. So I got up and went back to bed at 5am, and did sleep.
Last night I stood awake until 5.30am doing the paper on Word/Excel and woke up again at 12.30 with Yemi's call. Went back to work and finally finished it now.
Therefore, it deserved a celebration with a shot of Zubrowka in a Slovensko shot glass!
The thing is, it is 4.30pm and I don't eat anything since 8pm last night, except some Apple Strudle cookies I brought from PT and tea... lot's of tea.
Moreover, when dinner was veggie spinach cannelloni after 1h30 of intensive cardio fitness at the gym!
I feel dizzy... Im gonna faint... please helllllllllllllllp
Ok, just kidding :P

PS: a special thanks to Apollo 440 and (again) Chemical Bros for the company during these hard times! lol

Oops!

Houston I have a problem!
My Rolls-Royce paper is more than finished, 2h ago actually.
So, why am I still awake?
I cannot find a damn reference I took from Wall Street Journal, that was in some book I read during Xmas in Portugal.
What a crap!
Not even Google can find the article, and I don't even know the name of it or the author...
Tired of searching and willing to jump into bed, I decided to "forget" to add it in the Biblio and references... Oops!
This is all I have in the text about it: WSJ (March 11, 1980:6)
Sorry about that dear prof, hope you don't notice it.
Actually, I am gonna take away the month and day... hihihihh
Tomorrow printing in the morning and deliver. Afternoon start the other paper..
Good night... bye bye

Bery nice.. I like

Yesterday I got to know my first grade from the paper which took my sleep away for a week: Stock Market Inv.
I have to confess I expected a bit more regarding my commitment..
I also know I was a bit in a rush when I got to the conclusion and bibliography, besides the fact I didnt use the prof book as reference [did that on purpose ehehehh] and I was also very critical on his favourite valuation method CAPM [Fama & French rule] :P
Nonetheless I seemed to get one of the best scores in class (if not the best, only compared with 5 other), therefore I am indeed proud of myself [this looks very narcissist of me but I dont give a shit].
So, the grade right.. I've been told the profs are extremely reluctant giving away grades above 80 out of 100. This reminds me Coimbra during my previous studies, where it was even worse..
Just to clarify one more point, you need to obtain more than 40 to pass (if not mistaken), above 60 to get Merit and over 70 for Distinction.
My final goal is slightly closer to achieve, a Master in Finance with Distinction.
Ok.. ok.. I got 75 :))
It is interesting to realise that I only get good grades outside Portugal!! It happen in US [GPA 3.43/4, even though I was partying and enjoying life], Poitiers-France where I got B [again partying everyday during 15 consecutive days!!] and my paper was considered to be one of the best by the most demanding prof in Coimbra's Faculty of Economics (my "dear" Adelaide Duarte) and 2 other French profs, and now in UK... in PT I was simply another one in the middle of the pack!
I can only draw the conclusion that I feel more intelligent abroad!!!, or is it because of the bunch of theoretical oriented profs I had in Coimbra [to avoid saying some bad word]??!!
Apparently seems like I will celebrate next week after delivering the almost finished paper on Rolls-Royce hedging policy and the 9/11 impact on use of derivatives, the Quantitative Methods for Finance paper and Friday exam.
Back to work now though...

Reporting from the cold

No, I'm not in Malmo or Copenhagen any longer, I got back to UK, tough return though.. 2h delay due to strong wind and snow conditions at CPH and an unsatisfied asian paparazzi!!

I can only tell for now I had a great time there nonetheless it was damn freezing, especially the last day in Malmo!
I promise to upload a few pics asap, meanwhile I have two other papers to do and one exam all coming up next week.
Yes, exactly... I'm in deep shit again!
Ok, just one pic [still receiving them as I write].Hope you like my Nepalese cap and the view of [freezing] Malmo's new docklands and Santiago Calatrava's Turning Torso
See ya soon, cheers

Copenhagen & Malmo

After a long journey to get here at Coventry metropolis, I am unpacking and repacking to flight at 6am from London to Copenhagen and then check in in Malmo where I'll stay with my gf, Guni, until the 3rd of Jan.
So, I woke up at 5.30am to catch the train to Lisbon [2h30 trip], from there a taxi to the airport [15min trip] and finally a very turbulent plane to Liverpool [3h trip].
Once in England, I caught a bus to the Liverpool South Parkway train Stn. [15min trip] and afterwards two other trains, the 1st to Crewe [40min trip] and the 2nd from Crewe to Coventry [1h20min trip]. Finally another taxi to Singer Hall 33.001, Canterbury St. [10min trip].
It's not over my friend! I still have a coach to catch to London Stansted Airport [2h15min trip] and from there a 2h wait to catch my flight to Copenhagen [2h30 trip]. Furthermore... some kind of transportation, either bus or train, to Malmo which is expected to take me about 30min, and from there a bus to the Hotel [~20min trip], otherwise it'll be a 2km walk [~1h trip].
Putting all together, (where's the damn calculator... my fuses burnt down!...) it sums roughly about 14h!!! That means I'll loose one day of my life since I'll be so tired from all these trips I'll sleep the other 10h!...

Im back... not for long though!

Sorry for the delay but I didn't have net at home and the place I usually "borrow" wifi from was closed for holidays!! There is no respect for good clients any more!!
My Xmas vacations passed by pretty quickly... visiting friends here and there, avoiding staying at home more than 2 consecutive days, catching my sleep and working a bit...
Yes, working... even on vacations I need to work, I have to deliveries on the 7th and 10th plus an exam on the 11th. Then I'll catch a coach to London to show it around to a friend Jana.
Xmas... just normal... the usual, lots of good food and typical sweets.
Ah! I had an accident with my dad's BMW!!! Well, it wasn't properly an accident since not me or the car had any damage to report. The only thing the car had was some leaves and half a brick under, and a few small scratches on the lower part of the right side skirt!!! LOL
Why? Immediately after a roundabout in Povoa de Varzim, where I met Gil for a coffee and chat, I was [for the record] touched in the left corner of the rear bumper and the slippery road made me lose control of the car and end up facing the cars on the opposite side of the road by passing over the bushes in the middle that divide the avenue!
Advice: Never turn off the stability and traction control under wet road conditions!

Someone saved my Xmas!!

After the previous post, it was easy to guess the result on the next morning!!
No, I didn't wake up on time for the coach to Liverpool!!
No, I didn't set the alarm clock, I forgot!!
No, Christophe didn't wake me up in the morning before leaving!!

YES... YES... Someone tried to call me at 11.35am!!
Who?? No F@Kin idea!! But thank you... thank you so much...
You did save my Xmas from being spent alone in UK!!

Wait! "It ain't over til the fat lady sings!" :)

So, I woke up too late to catch the 11am coach from B'ham to Liv'rpool
Solution: Catch a train to Liverpool as quickly as possible, my flight was at 4.55pm.
At 11.55am I inside a taxi on my way to the train station..
At 12.09am I had a ticket in my hand to catch the train at 12.12am..
I "run" (ridiculous!! I was still so drunk and exhausted I could barely walk!) to platform 3 and no train!!
I look at the schedule, train arriving at 12.19am. Nice, I thought.., the train is late.
So, I didn't even check where the hell the train was heading!!
At 12.37am I realise I might be on the wrong train (1st time in my life I get into the wrong mean of transportation!!).
Yes, I was on my way to Manchester, not Liverpool!! F****
I go ask the "ticket guy" for help, and he told me to drop off at Wolverhampton and change for the 1.44pm train to Liverpool (the one I was going to get in Coventry anyway).
I almost fall asleep at Wolverhampton Train Stn., it was really warm in the waiting room :)) [this time I had the alarm clock on!]
Finally I catch the right train, drop off at Liverpool South Parkway and get the shuttle bus to the airport and arrive there 1h45m before time :))
Lucky bastard does it again :P
I had only one more slight problem, I had 21Kg of check-in luggage!!
Why?? 7 books is the answer...
As soon as I transfer them to the hand bag, my problems were over, at least that's what I thought!
Carrying now 17kg of hand luggage was becoming increasingly tough!
Finally I fly back to Porto, and...
As I unpack my stuff at home I sadly realise I forgot the AC Power cord of my laptop!! What a crap! And universal adaptor to use to charge the mobile battery as well!!
Therefore, this will be one of the last times I'll be using my laptop here in PT, I'll be using a powerbook G4 Mac :) [I still need to work and do a lot of research on Rolls-Royce Group plc and their use of derivatives for one of the 2 papers left though]
See y'all soon folks

Marry Crissmass to evry 1 and a crappy new year :P [Rudolf's words! He's drunk again..]
Cheers

The bus will be at 9am and Im gettting drunk!!

MUSE vs/ discop, and Ibiza Pacha, in my room MUSE, PLACEBO, INTERPOL, KORN and stuffd
In Chrsis room Ibiza Pacha, Minsnistry of Sound and similar... Even thou I ned to catch the bus an d coach to Bham and the Liv'pool forr me flight, I hjust wanna have fun toinite\
ehehh... its RUDOLF time toc come back ansd take over the sanntas plcae for goood...
Sante is bogus, fake, dont believe that fucker, he just wants u to spensd money shopeing 9 bulshit for other poeple while Rudolf spend s all yera plannig xams 4 u../
he trully like s u and wants to hug u sine=ce his so sentimental, even though he spends al; yera long drinking in bahamas or trinita tobaggo ro madagascar an d maldives.. whatever..
hes the ruller, not santa, that one is a creep, never trust him~!!!
I wanna it now, muse is telling me to go back to eristoff, zubrowka and smiirnoff vdoka.! were just 3 but we drink 4 83475646po\\eople :P
2morrow illm be in PT for more parety zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

On my way back home

What a crazy week... too much work...
I miss sleeping more than 2/3h a night!!

btw.. Im packing... tomorrow Portugal expects me.. I heard it'll over 15 degrees celcius and sunny just for me :)

I'll post about the exam and coursework when I get there.

I AM A MEAT LOVER

After 2 days desperate needing meat, I am finally getting some, chicken and borrowed from Achal [no time for shopping]... but who cares, still MEAT :)

no sleep though! 1h last night and I just woke up from another! Not enough... at all!

boosting

It's almost 9.30am and seems like I just woke up... full of energy, no sleep though!
Since I have a class at 1pm, I think I better just keep on working...
Chemical Bros still playing :)

The brotha's gonna work it out

I'm getting there.. bit by bit... at least I started writing, but I see no way of getting this done tonight!!
We'll see...
Meanwhile...
CHEMICAL BROTHERS DISCOGRAPHY :))

Who am I?!

I woke up a few hours ago, it was about 10pm, although I was supposed to wake up at 8pm after crashing on my bed at 7pm [Went to bed at 6am last night and had class at 10am].

So, as I woke up...
I was wondering what day on the week is today (or... was!)! It took me some time to realise I just woke up on a Friday night to cook dinner and get back to my coursework!!
I can barely believe I am doing this (on a Friday night.. Shit!!).
Here am I, after upgrading and tune my crap CV as I spoke with my gf, eating dinner and ready to work all night... again... while listening to London Elektricity D'n'B Ultrasound to give extra energy!
Not that I am complaining or anything, just that, some months ago, I wouldn't think this would be my daily reality.
I work day and night if necessary to meet the deadlines [not that the papers are that "impossible", but you don't even have time to breathe]
I am cooking pretty well from several comments on my dishes [actually take a look at my veggie penne with spinach and blue "smelly" Stilton cheese]I attend classes even the ones from the PhD Financial Mathematics Prof that knows shit about Matrices.
I stopped being lazy almost everything (have to improve the reading though), I even stopped getting "unbelievable" excuses to profs to delay the coursework delivery... Actually today was a German girl who did that!!!! A German!!! LOL I just gave her a hand with good justifications... Speaking of that, as I was speaking that some of us aren't English and booked flights home before knowing the deadline (21st Dec).. so, suddenly an Indian girl sitting next to me starts shouting: "some of us are going to India and Pakistan", while I was speaking!! WTF!! I almost slapped her face! Shut up while others are speaking!
Moving onwards...
Well, basically I am a changed person, much more pro-active but without a social life outside my flat and 10/15min before and after classes... not that I am missing the best/amazing social life you can get here in Coventry though.
Therefore, I will make over when I get to PT next weekend :)) [working for 2 papers and an exam simultaneously]
And next Thursday I am going out with my flatmates and lunch/bowling Friday with my MSc Finance mates.
Sorry for this long post, but I had to speak out and have a break..

Markowitz

What a crap?!
Just got to know that the deadline for one of my coursework was wrong on the sheet of paper I had and it is 21st Dec.
Since I'll be flying back to PT on the 15th from Liverpool, I have to turn it in Friday the 14th, along with the Stock Market Investment.
That means, I have one week to complete this last one, start and finish the other and study for next Wednesday Financial Statement Analysis exam!! Bery nICE.. I like!
As for the Stock paper I need to use a small crap program for the Markowitz Diversification Model.
In order to make my life easier, not having to run each time under the rain to the Library, I "borrowed" it... accidentally appeared on my IPod, not my fault!!
I'm just optimising my time as I'm doing with the portfolio :))

Radar Lisboa

Ah... feels so much better...
Long time since I listen to a good radio station...
I can even alternate with RUMinho :)

Time saving

When time is short, you have to be smart optimising it.

I have to perform an analysis according to some models: Dividend Discount Models (including Gordon Growth Model), PE Ratio, CAPM and Markowitz Diversification to optimise the tiny portfolio... I have to pick 3 out of 6 shares, to help build a portfolio.
Since the spreadsheet formulas' ready and all the data collected and imputed, I decided to use more than mere 6 shares... just 18 from FTSE 100.
Why?
Simple, I'll be able to pick the best stocks that optimise my time giving explanations and justifications :))

Therefore, I'll be using Aviva plc, British American Tobacco plc, CW Residential plc, Rio Tinto plc, RollsRoyce plc and Unilever plc.
I'm just picking them "randomly" as the prof asked... hihihihi

because, you know...

Since then I never laid my eyes on him, and especially sat my butt in his classes!
Profs such as this one makes us think "How the hell can they hire a prof like this?!", and what am I doing in his class, I learn more not coming here and spend that time self learning reading interesting stuff at home.
Fortunately I learnt most of it before, I question myself if I don't have more knowledge than him in Quantitative Methods for Finance!!
I'm glad this is an isolated case, although there is another prof I don't like but this one knows what he's talking about, he simply lacks in professor' skills... No worries, I got used to this last kind in Coimbra!

So, what did he do, what did he say?? Take your own conclusions:
"...because, you know... I took these slides from somewhere, out of the internet" [trying to find the Present Value (annuities) slide!]
and more...
"How the hell did I work this out?!" [twice] [trying to figure out what he did on a basic Excel spreadsheet]
"How the hell would I be able to get 60 K upfront?!" [poor guy was confused how to solve a problem]

Me and Nikhil [France] laughing our asses out there...
It's been a month since then, I stopped having classes on Fridays. LOL
Next Friday I am going to give the guy a second chance... it's a promise!

BOMBASTIC!!

You cannot believe what has happen to me today!!...

Nothing.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! :P

I was so bored is this damn room, I decided to go grocery shopping at 7h45pm just to catch some fresh, really fresh air.. Its freezing out there.
Result: Spent 28 pounds in 5 bags of stuff, enough food for about 2 weeks.

Need to pee now and then back to my Stock Market portfolio analysis...

Cheers

the PENETRATOR!

It was me, I confess!

Yesterday, late in the afternoon I went with Kris and Chris to the MA Automotive Design '07 private exhibition, just for family and professors.
There was wine for free and a few interesting projects, no more than 4/5.
The winner was this one bellow, from a Polish girl, looks fun...
Aleksandra Sladek _ www.sladekdesign.com (in case you wanna know more)
There were other creative and interesting vehicles but nothing really amazing though, something catchy...


London Taxi for 2012
One of the best for me.
Project by: Martin Tyminski
www.designmt.com





Power Line Repair Vehicle

Project by: Rickard Carlsson

This mono-wheel radical vehicle was tested for real and it did work pretty well, but I find it hard to use and expensive!

Project by:Tom Anable

Luigi aka Raul Gonzalez

Am I that similar?!!
I've been told I resemble A LOT the Real Madrid football player Raul Gonzalez!
It happen already in Lisbon, Barcelona, Ljubljana, Coventry, London, Dublin and several other places, by people from all around the world! :/

I confess sometimes I might look a bit like him... but not that much I think.Ok, maybe that picture in the background [open mouth!] between face and his arm in the pic in white!!
But then, I question myself...
Why can't I find the Audi Q7 parked outside my big expensive house, and especially this gorgeous "parked" in my bed??? Where are you Mamen Sanz?!

Dove e' il mio Lamborghini giallo?!

I've been feeling melancholic all day...
My brother sold the car I've been driving since 2002. Flavio, an Italian Erasmus student, once named it "Il Lamborghini giallo" (Yellow Lamborghini), after seeing me driving it around the streets of Coimbra.
All this time most of my friends pictured me (1.9m tall) inside a tiny yellow Renault Twingo.
I know it looks ugly to some, cheap to others or even both to many! To me,... I got sentimentally attached to my "fried egg" Twingo that never let me down.

It had all the versatility you can ask for, and believe me... I test it to exhaustion LOL :)
The mean machine came with a basic 1.2L engine and 58HP, still I was unbeatable inside Coimbra :P

I once reached the frightening Mach speed of 189Km/h returning from Galicia [Spain] on IC1 motorway, my friend can proof it was true!!! It's also able to follow 2 Ferraris for over 100Kms on a motorway, besides letting many fast expensive cars behind and its owners shocked!! :P
The Lambo experienced lots of fast and nice corners, either from roads or from my cute female friends :))







It was not only my mean of transportation but also many other celebrities, UN Iraq Nuclear Observers in Carnival 2003.
I can only hope the next owner will treat it as a future collection car, or he'll start spending huge sums of money to repair the mechanics that I barely killed! Ehehehh






Gonna miss it a lot.. goodbye my friend :(

Come and go

My dear "gunia" has left... :(

My laptop battery has arrived, brand new, increased capacity [it holds for 3h11m at 91%] and free of charge :)
They even enclosed a UPS stamp and a free number to call, so the old battery can be picked up... In your dreams.. You'll be lucky if I don't try to get another one.. MUAHAHAH!
Thank you Dell for the Xmas 110GbP gift :P

My Athens account has been locked. WHY??
According to them it was used in UK, PT and USA in less than 24h!! HOW??
1. Me in UK
2. my friend Marco in PT
3. no idea about USA!!
HOW TO UNLOCK IT??
Go to the Library Help Desk and tell them I was using my former Universities' accounts at the same time, UMSL - USA, UCoimbra - PT and CoventryUniv - UK.
For sure the software has some kind of bug or flaw?!?! I am an honest student..

Agnieszka aka "gunia" in UK

After the small misunderstanding, ending up in different airports, we finally met and been enjoying the last days travelling and visiting Coventry (obviously), Birmingham, University of Warwick, Stratford upon Avon (Shakespeare home town) and London for the past 3 days :) Tomorrow, it'll be goodbye again, but just until 29th December in Copenhagen/Malmo for New Years.

WH Smith plc paper

After returning from Dublin's weekend and noticing the paper didn't progressed, I found myself in a complicated "shituation"!!
I spent all Monday until 6am, and a non-stop Tuesday until wednesday at 4pm hard working... had only 2h break, Tuesday, to pick my gf at the airport. Imagine that I was at B'ham Int'l Airport whilst she's at Coventry Int'l Airport searching for me!!!! In the end, we meet at Coventry Pool Meadow Coach Stn...
Poor gunia...
So, the paper... well, I had to let my chinese co-workers know Wednesday at 8am that I wouldn't be able to finish the paper on time unless they helped me! Fortunately they did, and we deliver it 2min before deadline :)

Dublin

As expected... great time with great friends :)
This is one of them, Guinness... and he has twins... several! LOL
The others were, Marina (France), Martin (Sweden), Rado (Slovakia) and Anna (Germany), and me (Portugal).
There are plans for 2008 UMSL Annual Meeting for Tatras in Slovakia already :))
I was also able to meet one of my dear Irish girls, Sorcha, but just for 5min... Buzy girl. Seems like I might have to go back to pay them my Guinness promise... eheheh

not dead!

news to arrive at any second now...

Creative accounting and heavy drinking

I was never fond of accounting.. too damn boring!
Now, I found myself with a hand full confusing figures, hard to put together, a financial analysis of a problematic company whose figures are a complete mess.
Solution: Assumptions :)
Isn't that why companies want people like me to take good care of their finance, to complicate the life of those who wish to extract something out of the Annual Reports, but without being too "evasive" ending up like Enron!
I believe the objective of this course is now being achieved, just hope the prof. agrees with this!! ehehehh
Tomorrow, I'll take a weekend off and forget all about this crap report, just hope my Chinese co-workers will do pro-active work while I'm enjoying some Guinness pints in some Dublin's pub... MUAHAHAH :)

Clay room

As I arrived home from school, exhausted, Christophe was about to leave to work on his Berlingo 2020 clay model.. I was so into crashing for an hour or so in bed to recover so I could be working now, but... there's always a but.. instead, I decided to join him and release my stress while helping out him and Kristofer building their models, way much more fun than when I sit here working on my projects!!
1st pic: Christophe getting a hot clay cylinder out of the machine! Were you imagining dirty things?!! Perverts...
2nd pic: Kristofer smoothing the surface of his model
3rd pic: Berlingo model upgraded with rear spoiler, Bosch windscreen wiper, TAXI logo and my touch, a personalised Citroen logo :)

How about Indian curry for lunch?!

It's not me... Everyone noticed the same, including Achal [Indian] agrees that there are some unusual/strange/weird things going on with a couple of Indians.
By this I mean, ie, during today's Int'l Fin Markets class there was one short Indian who came 30min late. To make matters worse, there was another that came 52min after the class started!!
Actually, this guy is known to be the last to come to any class... every single time!
Then, later on, during the seminar, my eyes and nose captured (again) an Indian in the row just in front of mine having lunch, rice, meat and veggies, along with a Fanta.. He even had a napkin and the whole class could feel the smell of it!


To make him more comfortable I decided to eat as well. So, I tried some kind of Chinese marmalade, although the fruit is totally different, and a "cookie/candy" which was actually sweet beef!! A gift from Weiwei, and I must say it was good. Felix, my notebook cat also wanted to try.. sorry mate, no cookies for ya this time :P

Surprise, surprise! Early Xmas for my baby [aka bixo-do-gUImaS]

Here I was, as usual behind my laptop, extracting figures from WH Smith plc Annual Reports [bastards!! Why did they had to demerge in two companies and changed into IFRS in 2005... what a mess!].
So, where was I? Ah...
As I was saying, while pro-actively working on my coursework, I was updating the laptop hardware drivers, when suddenly I am confronted with shocking news!!
UUUUUHHHH! Nah... nothing special...
I just found out I am getting a new battery for FREE [yes, I am a bloody lucky bastard indeed :P] from Dell, arriving in the next 20 days.
What a pity right?! Seems like my battery belongs to a group that its cells MAY eventually not work really well.
Dell is calling back all batteries to exchange for new ones, that have Sony cells inside [they don't advertise it much though! Too bad for them I found it..].
Actually, I have to confess that mine can only last for about 1.30min max, when it used to last more than 2h, but that was almost 3 years ago! ehehehehehh
I think it was about time they gave me a new one :P
Thank you Dell, it was a pleasure doing business with you.

FUCK BUDDY...

[no names will be referred due to privacy issues :P]

I was having a normal day when, to brake the routine, a friend came and inquired me if I would be interested in having uncommitted sex with a friend of his [who also has a gf]..
Not that this girl isn't "nice" [Borat style, lol] or.. whatever, but... OBVIOUSLY... I refused!
I have a gf remember!! [sorry to disappoint some of my friends, I ain't like you :P]
And I'm quite sure my gf will probably ask me who am I talking about pretty soon, if not earlier, when she comes here, the 20th November :))
As an honest guy with nothing to hide, I am sharing this with all of you.

For those to whom this "Fuck Buddy" term is unfamiliar, here goes a possible definition found on Urban Dictionary:

"Term used for sexual partners that regularly engage in sexual activities with each other, but do not share the usual emotional attachment of a standard boyfriend/girlfriend relationship (or boyfriend/boyfriend, or girlfriend/girlfriend, etc. etc.).
Often used to describe two people who use each other solely for sexual gratification and nothing else. Usually this is a sexual relationship that still allows for each partner to seek sexual and emotional relationships with other people (hence, no attachments) but can rely on each other for a quickie or booty call."

DUBLIN's calling :)

That's where I'll be next Friday around mid-night, and Jim Larkin's already waiting for me with open arms, just in front of the Millennium Spire.. LOL
It's been almost 3 years since we first met in St. Louis, Missouri, USA at UMSL/Meadows..
It's been about 1.5 years since some managed to meet (I was there) in Paris for a FABULOUS weekend..
It'll be next weekend that some of us meet again for another FANTASTIC weekend in Dublin, and I'm glad to be part of the lucky bastards group :)
To those that won't be able to meet in Dublin, hope to see you next time.. We'll send you some pictures to torture and convince you to make arrangements for next time :P

F@#$ U Bill!!

After a long exhausting battle, here's the result: 86 updates for my GENUINE XP Pro...
I undo all the patches and erased the WGA folder from the HKEYs along with the WGATray.exe, in safe mode. Then, patch it again with Keyfinder, Windows XP Keygen, WGA-fix and finally MGADiag. Afterwards, just had to follow the instructions I found on Microsoft forums: update the LegitCheckControl.dll in System32.
What was missing? Going to Microsoft update site, download the updates and install! It did download, but then it gave me an error while installing!! Crap! So I went "fishing" on Google for solutions, and quickly realised that I should install a few at a time... SUCCESS :))
My laptop fixes have been consuming more of my precious time than actually Uni work!! This will no longer be happening in the future!
Btw, my 1Gb Ram has arrived but the Singer Hall office is closed, meaning that I'll only get it tomorrow :)

My Codfish Int'l dinner

For the first time in my life I experienced cooking for over 10 people, in this case, international students from 6/7 different nationalities.
I can tell you.. it was hard!
Fortunately Jing helped me out by cooking some Chinese rice dish upstairs, otherwise I don't think I would have enough food for everyone.
The main dish was "Bacalhau 'a Bras", celebrated in Portugal, one of over 100 different recipes we have for dried codfish!...
But, since there isn't any dried codfish in England, I got it from Portugal when I went there last October, but not that much though.
Therefore, I had to prepare something else too. So, I got some Mexican tortilla corn chips and tomato salsa dip, as a starter. Then, I cooked Fusilli with bacon, prosciutto and sun dried tomatoes...
I'd just would like to recall that it was the first time I cooked for more than 4, and the 1st time I ever cooked codfish, and I am NOT the best cooker you can wish for.
Still, everyone seemed to be feeling ok after dinner and were congratulating me because both the pasta but especially the codfish were tasty :)

back on biz...

My laptop is officially working 100%, with a Microsoft XP "Genuine" and certified key. I even pushed a bit by downloading WMP 11 directly from Microsoft website :P
It only needs that 1Gb Ram to arrive asap to make it faster otherwise it gets hard to work on it with so many programs/processes running!
Btw, I am feeling really well, the medicine is doing its job :)
Now, I can finally get my hands on my coursework... see ya folks..

Who's sick after all?!

It usually happens once a year, two maximum...
So, the inevitable has happen! I am SICK!
Yesterday I tried a mix of two kinds of medicine, a Chinese pill and a French pill!! No idea which one is more doubtable... eheheheh... just kidding!?! [Thank you Weiwei (CN) and Christophe (FR)]
Today, I went to Boots to get myself a pack of Strefen - Honey & Lemon flavoured, Flurbiprofen 8.75mg for the experts. I feel much better thanks to the cute pharmacist... lol
It was just on time to come home before the heavy rain started pouring.

To make matters worse, my laptop is sick too... every single day there is some shit, problem, bug, virus, trojan... giving me a hard time in order to fix it!
Today, after reinstalling Office Pro 2003 (don't like the 2007) in English (had the French!!) and installing XP Pro SP2 over the original Home Edition that came originally, my task bar went crazy, it stopped showing the open windows and acting suspiciously.. and internet forums warned for the worst scenario, a Trojan! F@#^%$, not again...
Fortunately it was false alarm, and I got this great program to fix all crap XP generates, Advanced System Optimizer 2.10 :)
Thank you so much, not only fix the task bar problem but also found a trojan that fooled Ad-Watch program and McAfee, cleaned all the crap, and so on...
Now, I screw up... by mistake I allowed XP to install the Genuine Validation Tool while checking for updates! How could it get worse!
I'm really grateful to hackers that came up with this WGA Patcher Permanent Kit (WPatcherP5575987.zip), which hopefully will make my XP Pro into an "even more legal" version, as soon as BitComet gets it for me.
Yep, I changed BitTorrent for BitComet, it works much better than the other :P
Wish me luck

Creativity or stupidity?!

Whatever, we won't bow to these British assholes running Singer Hall [where I live].
I believe their brilliant objective is to save on electricity and water during the night, but we ain't gonna freeze here!! MUAHHAAHAH
The last nights we noticed that either our heating system was malfunctioning or the heating system was deliberately turned off! We realised almost immediately it was the 2nd, since there was no hot water during the night after 11pm or so...
Our heating system is closed in a small locked compartment in the kitchen, there is also a temperature sensor on the hallway's wall, which turns on the heating when the temperature reaches values under 21 degrees.
Solution n. 1: Open the freezer, get something frozen, close the freezer, fool the sensor by lowering the temperature with the frozen chicken, steak, icecream,... Am I smart or what?! lol
Since solution n. 1 does not work when the heating is turned completely off, me and Achal came with another bright solution...
Solution n. 2: Turn on the oven with the door open [max power] and create our own ingenious fireplace!! It's working wonderfully, always above 24 degrees... I can continue to wear a tshirt at home :)
Let's just hope the fire stays on or I'll return to Portugal in a black plastic bag intoxicated!! ehehehh!! Not funny right!
Why the hell do they turn the heating off when at night... that's when it gets colder!! British, now I know who the Americans take after :P

Ordinary day

One may think I am about to start talking about music and Perry Blake's song, you are wrong though!
Just wanna update you with the latest...
1. I finally bought some Ram for my baby aka "bixo-do-guimas" aka laptop [1Gb to arrive by the end of next week]
2. I am taking the mandatory gym's induction Sunday (today) at 11am, so I'll be able to actually start doing some sports again!
3. After the gym induction, I am going to the Library to help Jing (again) with Solver, seems like the assignment is for next week and the poor guy didn't manage to get it done by himself.
4. The F&@#$ BitTorrent is extremely slow since yesterday, but only downloading!!

Halloween [part II]

as promised... [no comments! lol]

Rasputin vs Copernicus

May I introduce you my new best mate, Rasputin... Yes, exactly that one staring at you!
I found him today at Birmingham's Graduate Job Fair. I went there to have a look on possible future employers, and among with a few leaflets and brochures from the present companies, Rasputin put on some weight on the way home due to the huge amount of gifts given to me by those companies.
I'd say I brought home something like 1Kg of chocolates, over 400 mints, 13 pens, dozens of candy's and stuff I don't think I'll ever use... a Jaguar/Land Rover mouse mat, a ruler with a calculator and so on! And no, I'm not complaining... otherwise Rasputin would never bring light to my life.
The thing is, from now on, Copernicus' lamp [bought full of delicious ginger cookies in Torun, Poland] will have a rival!
Therefore, I am organising a combat between them, and bets are now open for you to support the one you believe to bring more light into my miserable life...

PS: Be aware of two other competitors struggling to get to number one, the Wilkinson-4-pound-ugly-silver-study-lamp and weather-guessing-temperature-giving-alarm-clock that wakes me up whether there is sun light, fog or clouds outside.

Simplex, Solver, Gauss-Jordan and family...

It all begun yesterday...
Jing addressed me looking desperate, one of his prof gave him a coursework to deliver today and he clearly didn't know how to do it! So he asked for help...
Once I understood what he wanted it I started a quest for my vanished memories on how to resolve Linear Programming exercises using both the Simplex and Matrix methodology, or the Graphical method.. used to obtain optimal solutions, in this case for manufacturing strategy purposes.
It took me quite a long time [whole night] to explain him, and his class mate later on as well, what a Matrix is and how it works.. bla bla bla
My problem was, besides the language gap, I learnt this stuff more than 5 years ago in Operations Research! I had to recapitulate in order to be able to explain them.
I simply end up doing most of the coursework for them while explaining. Good that I really liked that course though.
After a long night, I was confronted at lunch time today with more... This time was, how to input data for Excel Solver do what I taught him manually last night? It's harder than it seems, when your PC and mine don't have the Solver add-in installed on Excel!!
In the end, I gave him an .xls file with all the data and formulas, so he just needed to follow the professor's handout steps in the Library... Hope he managed though :)
Now, I'm afraid I'll have to format the C: and install XP again!! My laptop keeps looking itself all the time, and I'm getting fed up of it!
And that was all for today folks, need to go back to my WH Smith plc market research...

Halloween

I've been a good boy lately, spent most of my time between Uni, home and grocery shopping!!
Nights out... I had two, the first I went out with Nikhil, a French guy from my Master class, and we went out to some pubs and end up in Ignite, the best club in town. The second, me and my flatmates went to The Oak, a pub, drunk one or two pints and quitted from going out afterwards, since everything was kind of desert! What a crap...
Last night, I joined Achal and some other people from Nigeria, Maldives, a funny guy from Libya expert on ostrich [lol] and an Indian devil woman :)
We had lots of fun [pics to be posted in the near future] at the Nigerian's place, cooked some pasta and bananas... well, he calls it something similar to bananas but NOT bananas!! eheheh..
Then we tried to go to Lava, nightclub, not lucky, the queue was simply too big. So, we end up in from of Varsity, it was closing soon and it didn't seem that animated...
If I wanted a place to have fun, this would have been the wrong pick, good that I am here with study purposes.
Only one detail missing, 3/4 of my Eristoff simply vanished, I had no dinner... the result was catastrophic... Something I haven't done in the past 8 years!! ...moreover, on a Mercedes C-Classe door handle!!

new toy :)

I realised I was wasting money on a pay as you go sim card, and therefore, decided to go for a contract...

I got myself this sleek good looking Nokia 5310 XpressMusic [red] :D

I hate Troy!!

Bloody damn Trojans...

I've been doing some massive legal downloading lately, such as HEROES [88.8% of the 6th Ep. Season II, arriving in less than 30m :D], some movies I wanted to see for a long time, software, music albums and so on and so forth...
Due to this, I got myself a Trojan Horse that I erased last week but it came back!
Read lots of stuff online, forums and more forums, downloaded specific software, cleaned everything but it's back! The same one... Crap!
Seems like it came with Scansoft Pdf2Word/Word2Pdf Converter software and it infected my external hard disk along with my laptop.
I am running Symantec Security Check right now, to find out the lovely Horse name so I'll know what to do exactly and then take it to the Uni's Library to a guy who will finish with it and help me out hunting down the Horse from my laptop and external hard disk.
So, tomorrow, I'll be having one of these for dinner... hihihihihh

more time for me

There I was with no laptop any more!

Kristofer had a presentation today in the morning, some project on the Citroen Berlingo for 2020... Since he's only getting his new laptop from Norway this weekend, I lend him mine.
Result: I had more time to prepare a nice eye catchy dinner, stuffed bell peppers, capsicum annuum, paprika, sweet peppers or whatever you wish to call them... with chicken, onion, garlic, bacon, mushrooms and probably something else, along with a spicy sauce (of course).
After that, I started reading the Int'l Financial Management book.
His presentation (Kristofer's) went well, Christophe only presented his in the afternoon because he feel asleep and didn't wake up on time! In the end, it also went well and I got my laptop back :)

xie xie "spicy" Weiwei... wu can hen hao chi ^^

Hmmm... Delicious...
I've been waiting for this since June '05!! (believe it or not)
On the image to the right, I present you Kimchi, the most healthiest food in the world (believe it or not).
Yes, I cooked it myself... not that Im any expert but I can tell you the result was surprisingly very good.
I have to thank, obviously, to Hyemin (ex-gf) for introducing me to kimchi. And, to Weiwei, the cutest and friendliest Chinese girl I ever met (the sister I never had... lol), for taking me shopping to the right place and for yesterday's great Chinese lunch.

MSc Finance - CBS

My courses:

. Financial Statement Analysis
. Stock Market Investment
. Quantitative Methods for Finance
. International Financial Markets
. Research Methods
. Corporate Financial Strategy
. Corporate Financial Management
. Financial Futures/Options
. Emerging Markets Finance
. Portfolio Management
. Dissertation

Singer Hall 33.00X

Room: 006
Name: Jing (centre)
Country: China
MA Construction Management

Room: 005
Name: Kristofer
Country: Sweden
MA Automotive Design

Room: 004
Name: Alex (eating)
Country: China-HK
Car Design (undergrad)

Room: 003
Name: Achal
Country: India

MBA

Room: 002
Name: Christophe
Country: France

MA Automotive Design

Room: 001
Name: Sir Luis
Country: Portugal
MSc Finance

This is me and my new family for the next year, all nice guys... no girls though!

too much to tell...

I could write an adventure book, a biography or whatever about these months in my life... I'll save you from such torture. Instead, I just tell you I've been having the time of my life, enjoying what life has to give me.
One thing is for sure, there are things even I find it hard to believe! LOL

Very briefly, I worked over 1y at Volkswagen in PT, finally graduated [Univ Coimbra-PT] by passing Accounting exam and presenting a paper in an IP at Univ Poitiers, FR. Spent lost of time travelling around PT and discovering Europe, met great people all around... Finally ended up in Coventry-UK studying to become a Master in Finance by next September.

Added a pic of what is probably the most beautiful place I ever been... Lake Bled. A special thanks to Norah and Sorcha, see ya in Dublin ;)

Im back!

After the adventures and misadventures of deuxxnosstates I am back!!
This time I'm no longer having fun in US, I am confined to my room researching and studying, hoping to become a real Master next year.
That does not imply that I cannot travel once in a while or enjoy life... hihihihh
See y'all around folks...
Cheers