Not permanently! I will be going to Chicago to take John Harris’ Level II accounting course on May 11th and 12th. I’ve heard good things about this guy for as long as I’ve been working on the CFA and I’m tired of having my butt kicked by accounting all the time. It’s going to be expensive but I’m hoping that it will be worth it. (Gee, as I type this, am watching the History Channel’s ‘Russia: Land of the Tsars’ and they are talking about Peter the Great who, because he wanted to learn Western technology, was willing to undertake a tour of those nations in order to do so. How appropo…)

One thing I really don’t like about myself is that I tend to hem and haw over decisions such as this. In this case, it came back to bite me as I missed the crucial two-week window before booking my flight in order to get the best price. Anyways, I registered for the course and then looked for a flight through Orbitz.

I decided to fly out of the Buffalo-Niagara airport bcuz it’s a lot cheaper than flying out of Toronto. I missed out on the more desirable flights but snagged a somewhat cheap one that flies to Atlanta and then on to Chicago. If I had booked a day earlier, I would have gotten an early one straight to the Chi at a good price. Flight is supposed to arrive just before noon so I will have time to hit a youth hostel and play tourist for a bit before dinner.

Here’s the really exciting part. Given the parlous state of my finances, I needed to keep all of this as cheap as possible. SL had recommended a while ago that I join CouchSurfing.com in order to see if I can find free accomodations whenever I travel. I had hoped to use CS in this case and had begun my search. I was still a bit shy about doing so since I didn’t really want to impose and there is the potential that I wouldn’t be much of a guest. I decided to go on MacResource’s forums in order to see if anyone there was a CS member which would give me an early introduction with someone.

There wasn’t but long-time MacResource member Ho’ard was kind enough to offer me his couch for the Friday and Saturday nights! Wow! I was pretty blown away since it happened so quickly and easily. Ho’ard seems pretty interesting since he’s into biking (he’s part of a bike trailer co-op and may even be able to lend me a bike) and he likes the symphony. I think that I am more excited about visiting Chicago now than I am about taking the accounting workshop.

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No, the recent lack of posts is not attributable to my reading this book! It would take more than Ms. Fluke’s enjoyable but fluffy series of mysteries in a small Minnesota town to prevent me from posting here!

Once again, our intrepid sleuth bakes up a storm as she works her way through another mystery in what is probably America’s deadliest small town! Two things strike me; how can so many people die in such a short period of time in such a small town and how can they keep eating enough cookies to keep Hannah Swensen in business?

Anyways, it’s a good read!

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I have to admit that this is one of the few books I have ever given up on. I always try to give a book a fair shake but after over 70+ pages I am going to have to put it down. Ostensibly, it is about Iraq; its history, politics, culture, and what the future may hold for it in the wake of the American invasion, occupation and eventual retreat.

What I’ve found seems to be material that is already well covered in other books and articles and an author who delights in name-dropping and flying around in American helicopter convoys to and from secure areas. He writes very well in a lyrical manner but I just don’t know where he is going.

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This is probably one of the best things to happen recently. Late this afternoon, I gave Bonnie a call over at TS’s “customer service” department and left a message since CS had not heard from them after leaving her laptop there about a week and a half ago…think it was the 13th? Bonnie gave me a call back to say that the service technicians had determined that the iGo’s tip used was the wrong one and, since the store had given my friend the iGo, they would fix her mainboard for free. She strongly hinted that they were not taking responsibility for what my friend may or may not have done. Ha! They’re the ones who sold her the iGo adapter and they’re the ones who put the tip on. Why anyone would go around changing tips after the store who sold them both the computer and the adapter is beyond me unless they have too much time on their hands.

So, yeahhh!!! It does pay to go back when you feel that something is not right. Man, I’d have loved to have seen the look on Joey’s (the supervisor in Montreal) face when he realized that that power pin was still there and not knocked off as he said that it was.

My friend is still pretty incensed and has vowed that this is not over. She has not had her laptop and its contents for the past four months, she’s had several TS people tell her that it’s her fault that the machine is busted, and she’s had to buy another machine in the meantime. She’s intent on getting the proper adapter from them and getting her warranty extended by four months in order to cover the time that she’s not had her machine. Those four months were not her fault but their’s.

So, major strategic battle won but the mopping-up campaign is just beginning.

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I’ve noticed a couple of hits on this blog due to my inclusion of the purchase of the B17. For those of you interested in the break-in process, well, suffice to say that there has been no progress as far as my butt can tell. The saddle is just as hard as it was when I first purchased it and it feels no different than my old Specialized Body Geometry saddle. I have done about 220 km on the B17 so far and have applied Proofide to it at least twice.

I suspect final break-in to be sometime in June or late May at the earliest.

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In the Line of Fire is an excellent book on presentations, that is, on what happens after the presentation. The author, Jerry Weissman, uses as examples: political debates and military briefings in order to illustrate gaffes and how to avoid them. At times, he makes me want to go back and view the videos of some of the debates.

One of the most important things I’ve learned through this book is that after a presentation you should clear your mind and let go of what you have just done. You should not stay focused on what you have just presented, instead, you should be prepared to receive the questions that your audience will lob at you in reference to the information in your presentation.

Once you’ve cleared your mind, the sequence should be receive the question, buffer (where you make sure that you’ve comprehended the essence of what the audience member wants to know), answer honestly and fully, and, finally, a ‘topspin’ (a tennis term) where you want to leave your answer on a high note that reflects well on what you’re trying to do or what is the key benefit to the stakeholders and questioner.

Another thing to be learnt is that you have to prepare and prepare and prepare. Practice makes perfect.

In the Line of Fire is an easy read and should be on every presenter’s bookshelf.

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Surprise! I do have an MBA! Over the course of the past two weeks, whenever I mentioned that I have an MBA to people they act really surprised to the point of seemingly being in shock. Sheesh.

Anyways, last week, Schulich sent an email saying that they were running an MBA Bootcamp that would deal with career transition, interviewing, resume reviews and so on. Given how much difficulty I have been having in finding the job that I want, I decided to give this a shot. The decision was not easily made since the Career Development Centre did not provide many relevant details such as who was running the various seminars nor how many people were expected. A bit of a shot in the dark but it was only C$50!

One obstacle was getting up to the Keele campus on a Sunday morning when the TTC didn’t run their subway trains until 9 am. The bootcamp was supposed to start at 8:30 am so it was best to get there by 8. The TTC’s very helpful Helpline suggested that I start with the Yonge bus at 6:07 with a transfer to the Bloor St. West line and then on to the Keele bus. I should arrive at 7:42. It didn’t work out that way!

The Yonge bus was hugely packed but I managed to get on to it. It turned out to be a slightly earlier bus whereas the 6:07 was actually on time later with a much smaller load. Traffic and passengers were very light so I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself arriving at my destination at around 10 after 7.

The campus had changed significantly in the past decade! Many new buildings had been put up but the area still felt pretty open. That’s one thing that York will probably never lose - is sense of expanse. I walked through the ol’ shopping mall, through Vari Hall, checked out the place where I once dumpster dove at night for day-old muffins, and then on to the old graduate residences.

I eventually ended up at the new Schulich business building which was a lot more impressive than the old building which was a bit of a dark hole in most respects. At registration, I found that I was not the oldest graduate there so that was good. A lot of the over 120 participants were part-time students so they all had very impressive backgrounds. This was true back when I was there and it is true now. Very few full-time students so I don’t know if the quality of that particular demographic has changed or not.

The morning sessions were meant to be attended by everyone whereas the afternoon was broken up into a couple of breakout sessions. The most impressive presenter in the morning was Randall Craig who focused on your “elevator pitch”. He’s an excellent presenter!

The afternoon consisted of a couple of break-out sessions and then a couple of general ones much like the morning. My first breakout session was “Interviewing Skills” where I hoped to pick up some decent tips. Unfortunately, it covered ground that I was already very familiar with so it was a bit of waste of time for me. The second breakout session that I attended was “Careers in Finance” which was pretty upbeat despite a toned-down presenter. Career prospects look good but, then, how come I can’t find a job in the field?

A session on “critical thinking” was next and that was interesting. Supposedly, us MBAs are valued for that particular skill. Hrmmmm…

The “Image and Wardrobe” session was great fun as far as I am concerned. I’m sometimes considered a bit of a clothes-horse so I know a bit about styles and accessories. Although, I was a bit caught off guard by what is a “mandarin collar”.

The day wrapped up with an exercise where you wrote down on a notecard three items that you want to work on in the next week or so. You handed this over to the person next to you along with your name and phone number so that they can call u in a week and ask how far you have progressed or not. Then, it was on a wine and cheese reception.

So, what are my thoughts on the day? Well, I found it useful; I got a couple of pointers out of it; I made a couple of acquaintances but didn’t give away as many cards as I had hoped to; was re-acquainted with what the CDC does despite them not being very helpful in the past and got a bit of a boost in confidence. I guess the proof will be whether or not I snag a finance position any time soon so fingers crossed on that point.

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SL emailed me late this afternoon to ask if I wanted to go on an unofficial TBN Friday night social ride. This is just an easy short ride that takes place on Friday evenings. So, we head on over to the meeting spot at Bridgepoint Health which is on the corner of Broadview and Gerrard. The group was only around a dozen riders but pretty diverse in backgrounds with the majority being male.

We headed up the Don Valley at a good clip but there were numerous stops. I only went as far as a place with “stables”(?) since I had to come home for dinner.

The amusing thing was that one of the guys confided that if I was single then this was a great ride since there were usually some pretty nice women in attendance. (Evidently, the group can be as large as thirty.) One of the women (who shall remain nameless) later confided to me that she found the men to be unattractive to say the least. hahaha!

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SL emailed yesterday to ask if I would like to do the Five Boro Bike Tour during the first weekend of May. It sounds like an awesome ride through a great city even. Financially, it’s not really do-able and it would be a bit odd to be cycling with 30,000 other people. I don’t much like crowds.

I wonder if such a ride can be pulled off for Toronto? 50-plus kilometers through what? The downtown core is interesting, Little Italy, Roncesvalles, Bloor Village, Yorkville, Cabbagetown, and Riverdale. I think that we do have the interesting neighbourhoods but whether or not there’s enthusiasm/support for this is something else.

I was about to suggest Montreal as a city that can do it but I just remembered that it does have something like that already. So, can Toronto?

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This is the third in Cornwell’s series that is placed in the time of Alfred the Great. Our hero, Uhtred, journeys north to his homeland in order to see if there is a way to avenge his father’s death and reclaim his birthright. I won’t spoil what happens but suffice to say that he does a LOT of travelling due to a betrayal and, as always, there’s a lot of fighting and mayhem.

It’s a good read and I’m looking forward to the next instalment. It turns out that Uhtred grows to a ripe old age of over eighty and since he is barely in his mid-20s it looks like this will be another long series in the same vein as Cornwell’s Sharpe novels.

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