someone should start a discussion on this

An interesting and thought-provoking read.

Cleaners 'worth more to society' than bankers - study

westwerk

View from a gallery in Westwerk. Taken with the handy-dandy iPhone. Edited with Camera Bag.

From the WACC*-o-land of Finance Management, I have re-emerged!

I wish I could have followed that with, "Victorious and with laurels on her genius little head!" But I think "unshaven** and packing on a few extra stress-eating pounds" is more appropriate.

*Weighted average cost of capital. Am I a nerd or what?
** Okay, so I'm a girl. But if I were to spurt a beard, it would have been last week, believe me.

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I was able to play hooky for a couple of hours on Saturday though. On a tip from a friend, K, his friends, and I went to Westwerk, one of the several warehouse districts in Leipzig that has been converted into art galleries.

There I stumbled into the quaint works of Franziska Neubert, and the artist herself. One of the things that caught my eye was her Rue Blanche postcard set. Her settings really brought out the feeling of Paris within me, and I love how she captured the bustle of one of my favorite cities in the world. Hmm, do I hear a "ho-ho-ho and a merry Christmas to moi?" :o)

I got to speak to Franziska briefly, and she was really lovely and helpful (and pretty!). When I told her I'd love to do something creative, she immediately grabbed a pen and scribbled down the name of an art college in Leipzig (HGB Leipzig), of which she is an alumnus. She said, "I love what I do, but sometimes it can be hard to survive."

Hmm, I heard that exact same words from a photographer / acquaintance. And I wonder why it must be so, that the circumstances of our society is making us choose between surviving and doing what we are passionate about?

Ick, look who's talking. My muse is supposed to be capitalism. Or something. Haha!

Or maybe, I can eventually find a way to merge those together? A future business perhaps, which melds both survival and passion?

An interesting development in my MBA is that we're going to have field projects next semester, where we will be working with organizations--big and small--on particular issues. We got our group assignments today, and I was assigned to an entrepreneurial/consumer project who's looking to expand into international markets. Having only worked in big corporations so far, I'm really looking forward to this change in viewpoint. A close look into an entrepreneurial company in Germany! Should be exciting.

connect the dots

While our social networking class talked about the importance of core ties and weak ties, of degree of separations, of distance and centrality...

...all I can think of is how pretty the social networking diagrams look, and if there was any way to artfully blow them up poster-size and hang them in my study room walls?





The first and last diagrams look like IKEA patterns, don't you think?

Sometimes, I still cannot believe I chickened out of going to design school and went for an MBA instead. Each in its own time, I guess. I'm still hoping that one day, I'll be able to go to design school. It could even be in a long-distance learning school, who knows? :o)

In the meantime, I'm trying to be in the present and enjoying what I can learn from the MBA.

And to prove that I don't only have pretty diagrams in my head, I'm attaching a link to what I wrote for our social networking paper / blog ;o)

http://crtunnard.blogspot.com/2009/11/online-or-offline.html

Okay, break time's over, and it's back to revising for Financial Economics! *Gaaaak*

bayang bulilit v2.0

Downloading the Google app for iphones, I found that there is a nifty feature called voice search, where one can just state the word one is searching for, no typing needed.

So I said, "covariance*", and Google voice search got it right.

And then I said, "Toyota Production System*", and Google got it right again.

For fun, I wanted to try voice search in another language, so I thought of our national anthem Bayang Magiliw, and said, "Bayang Magiliw".

Google came up with "Buy Menu Maker".

* I apologize for the nerdy words. We had a horrible production management exam this morning, followed by an equally gripping afternoon session of Financial Management assignments.

happy 20th, germany

"On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall - a physical and symbolic boundary between communist East Germany and democratic West Germany - began to come down, ending decades of separation and marking a turning point of the Cold War. Widely regarded as one of the most influential events of the 20th century, we felt it important to recognize this historic moment."

Pictures of the Berlin Wall from the LIFE Photo Archive and Time LIFE Pictures

{via Google}

just in time

Regardless to what K says, he is excited about having an iPhone in the house...even if it's mine. Hehehe! (Well, now, he can invoke conjugal property as his line of argument. :o))

I never would have had thought of getting an iPhone, but a bunch of things convened together:
- I have to give back my work phone tomorrow;
- T-Mobile announced a special student rate (sign up until end of December this year to get it!);
- I am surrounded by wifi all the time at school;
- Homework, groupwork, career events, and deadlines are getting harder and harder to keep tabs on everyday...

So, call it fate, if you will ;o)

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iPhone = iLove, seriously.

I had no idea how many fabulous applications are out there. (Welcome to the 21st century, cave girl.)

One application which I am sooo tempted to get (but is hesitant due to its redundancy) is the design-savvy QlockTwo.

It is based on the beautiful clock by Beigert & Funk.

Isn't she a beauty?!

But with real clock priced at 800 eur ++, I don't think my wallet can handle it. The 0.79 eur iPhone version is more...er...timely for now :o)

However, since the QlockTwo app cannot be used as a screensaver, and since--practically-speaking--iPhone has a default clock function anyway, I wonder if it'll have enough hold on me to just have it in my phone?

It's so pretty though!

Hurm. iPhone = inDecisions? :o) Happy indecisions, though!

applications of financial management

"Sometimes it is useful to think of the firm as a pie...The way the pie is sliced could affect its value. If so, the goal of the financial manger will be to choose the ratio of debt to equity that makes the value of the pie--that is, the value of the firm, V--as large as it can be."

- Modern Financial Management, 8th Edition

Hmmmm, pie. I didn't know financial management could be so appetizing.

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A couple of weeks ago, one of our classmates celebrated her 25th birthday. I decided to get out of my comfort zone and bake my very 1st carrot cake. It caused quite a ruckus in the newly-assembled Ikea kitchen, but all the mini-mishaps--flour explosions, hazelnuts clattering on the floor, etc.--were worth it. The carrot cake was a hit! Beginner's luck, I suppose. But I intend to do a repeat performance :o)

Carrot Cake III
{via All Recipes}

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.