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Showing posts from February, 2009

Music memories

Most of my readers know that I enjoy heavy-metal. Not all of it, I try to avoid thrash-metal, and all of it's iterations like death, goth, black, and even speed - metal styles(exception for that rule could be Rammstein or Metallica both in rare instances). The preferred styles for me would be power,progressive, or classic metal represented by groups like DIO, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Ozzy, AC/DC or glam-metal with Van Halen, Def Leppard, and anything else that enforced mullet growing (thankfully I never developed mullet affection). I remeber in my youth we used to argue to no end with my brothers and friends which group was heavy which and was hard. Which bring me to the main focus of this post. One of the first metal groups I have ever heard in my life was Scorpions , attained by my brother on tape from the sources unknown to me, I suspect it was our uncle. As I was driving over to Wendy's to get some lunch in the rainy suburban Chicago weather, WLUP's kocke

Couldn't resist music based meme, of sorts

I saw this on Nathan's blog first, so I won't list anybody else. New meme: here's a totally random way to make your new random band's new random album cover. Post one! Go to “Wikipedia.” Hit "random" and the first article you get is the name of your band. Then go to "Random Quotations" and the last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. Then, go to Flickr and click on "Explore the Last Seven Days" and the third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. The photo courtesy of, oh crap I forgot to copy the link. Oh well, since I ma not selling the image no right infrigement here. Right?

Proceed with caution, 40% of grade ahead

What I don't understand about the economics class is why has it been split in two, Micro and Macro, both five weeks. It makes no sense, there is not enough material to be covered in the five weeks, especially when it comes to grading. We've been reduced to: 20% participation (common who doesn't get full grade in that in post-graduate school) 20% home work 20% a small in class economic review 40% final presentation The presentation is suppose to cover an economics of an industry. Between the members of my group we have Foods(Kraft), Electronic Home Installations(used to be Baumaster), Pharma(Taked), and Health Information Services(Allscripts, me). We've decided to go with HIS, being exited about the $20 Billion in the stimulus package reserved for furthering that purpose only. It's starnge to discover some of the information. While our bosses are painting everything with Unicorns farting rainbows, it seems that all is not well in Paradise. For example, the industry

Personality defects

From the description: "The Personality Defect Test will provide an accurate analysis of your true personality, but it will do so in a manner that is very insulting, cynical, and unintentionally ridiculous" How can I pass by a test when they phrase it like that? Your result for The Personality Defect Test... Sociopath You are 86% Rational, 29% Extroverted, 57% Brutal, and 86% Arrogant. You are the Sociopath! As a result of your cold, calculating rationality, your introversion (and ability to keep quiet), your brutality, and your arrogance, you would make a very cunning serial killer. You are confident and capable of social interaction, but you prefer the silence of dead bodies to the loud, twittering nitwits you normally encounter in your daily life. You care very little for the feelings of others, possibly because you are not a very emotional person. You are also very calculating and intelligent, making you a perfect criminal mastermind. Also, you are a very arr

Weekebd Update with K.B.

Not a bad weekend overall. For those who taped Oscars by didn't see it yet, avoid this post as it got spoilers. We have made an exception and went to see an Oscar nominated movie on Saturday. With the exception of Lord of the Rings movies (I think at the time we went to see it it wasn't nominated yet) I usualy avoid movies that get Best Picture nomination and go for those that get nominated for best Visual Effects. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire. I was a great movie, in all aspects. Very entertaining, good story, excellent production values (whatever I believe the production values are). I think it deserved the Best Picture nod. The interesting part about it, for me, was that it was made by Brits, with Indian cast, and yet it was very Hollywood-y, story line and all. It also seemed to clean house at the Oscars. We watched the show, as we always do. I think it went faster than the previous ceremonies. Less presenters, good hosting by Mr. Jackman. Kudos to him for the musical

Oh how wrong I was

Whatever the reason I always thought Star Trek TNG started the same year that we came to the US which was 91. Imagine my surprize when yesterday I DVRed an episode of TNG on Sci-Fi channel that was dated 1990, and the episode before that was dated 1989. How could I be that off?

Slow week

I really have nothing to say today. There is a lot of work and studying to be done. I have a team presentation to do on the conomies of Electronic Health Records industry in two week. A lot of research needs to be done for that, even though I work for the company int he industry. Our CEO is jumping around with glee since the stimulus package singed by the president has about $20 Billion allocated for the purpose of pushing EHR into the doctor's offices. I was surprised to find out that EHR penetrated only about 28% of the market. It makes US fall behind a lot of the European countries , in the 6th place. Anyways, I said that one of my hobbies is 3D modeling, and here is a piece of work I finished recently. I've rendered it specifically to look like a cartoon. I like the look of it.

Couple of tests from Quizzy

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test... Advanced You scored 93% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 73% Expert! You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score. Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/. Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at H ello Q uizzy ----------------------------------------- Your result for The Mediocre Actor/Actress Test... Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman Not Mediocre! Congratulations! You actually manage to keep all of your emotions in balance, and present a deep and nuan

Economics can be easy.

One of the surprising thing I found out in my Economics class, that this is a Quantifiable Science. Quantifiable means it can be calculated. Calculated means it can be predicted if you try hard enough. Price elasticity is a measure that relates price fluctuations to the demand of a product. Understanding that concept bring a whole new light to the understanding of economics. Price elasticity of demand is calculated very simply you take a percent of change in price over time and divide in percent of change in quantity of demand. A demand for product is considered inelastic if the price changes have a very small effect on the product demand. As an example of that we can use oil, gasoline, medications, cigarettes, food, water, and electricity (i.e. necessities). A demand for product is considered elastic if the price changes have a considerable demand on the product. As an example of an elastic good we can use fashionable clothing, technology, cars, and travel (i.e. luxuries). There are s

Wekeend update

Well, as we were struggling to get over the collective colds we tried to do less this weekend. The Little One has made her first prediction of the future career. She said she wants to be a doctor. The one that helps the babies to come out. The Wife has decided that the beef Wellington served in the Wildfire restaurant is the most delicious thing she ever ate. The rest of the weekend is a bit fogged out by DayQuil, Sudafed, and Afrin. I'll update if I remeber anything singnificant. Hope my readers had a better crack at the weekend.

Friday suckage!

I caught a cold. I hate colds. I recover within a day or two usually, but I feel like I could do do very well without a nose. I've read today that science dudes finally decoded the Common Cold virus. Can a cure finally be available for this useless malady?

Would you be my valentine?

A lot of people have different opinion about Valentine's Day. There is a lot of sentiment that it's a faux-holiday invented only to force people spend money between Christmas and whatever-comes-next. There is certainly a lot of truth in that. Me on the other hand, I appreciate Valentine's Day. I am a very forgetful person with a fairly short attention span. Valentine's Day is a good reminder for me to show my Awesome Wife how much I appreciate her, and it gives me an "official" reason to gift her. While this may sound a bit shallow on my part, and I understand that I don't need a holiday to bring home flowers or a gift (and it never stopped me I believe), I like this extra opportunity. Anyways, I know it's early, but honey I LOVE YOU! There, I said it again.

What happens on weekends

The snow melted completely. We are going to try to fix the roof this week. The temps were about 50 through the whole weekend. We've tried to go skating. Unsuccessfully. I have finally caught on camera that black squirrel I've been blabbering about. From BLOGISFACTORY Believe me it's black. And it sits on my fence which I am planning to fix and paint come summer. It looks awful.

Kids and a Music Meme

Kids Talking (The Little One): While playing on Wii Fit, squatting exercise: - But Daddy, I don't know how to do squat. --------------------------------------------- After my friend and co-worker have been goofing around with The Little One, about her giving him the snack we make for her. - Daddy next time we go to Russian School can you make another snack for Borya(Boris), he is poor. Well, first of all my friend's name is Eugene(I have no clue where the other name came from. The second thing is, I had to explain that he wass messing with her. But now, I have my revenge on him and call him Boris from now on. ------------------------------------------- While going through blogs I found a cool meme, that I can't pass. On Kim's website she asks to list some things from the MP3 player. I have two iPods, a big one that I listen at home, I think it's an 80G one. And a Nano, which I listen to while driving. I have about 30G of music at home. Here is what's going on m

The number is 25

There is a meme going around the blogs that I read, that asks you to tell 25 random things about yourself (see right menu for the blogs that I read). Since I have nothing to write about, I'll pick it up. 1. While going to Russian school we had clubs called Yunoarmeitsy(young army men), and I was part of the group preparing to be a spy/or a ranger 2. When I was in Russian High School (at least by American equivalent) I had to take NVP(translated loosely Preliminary Army Preparation course) 3. Following that theme, I also attended the shooters club, and was a pretty good shot with a 5mm rifle. 4. I was always one of the smallest kids in my class. 5. I never had any luck with Phys-ed, although I did attend karate and judo classes for several years. 6. I play tennis. 7. I could be the worst procrastinator in the world 8. My drink of choice used to be Finlandia Raspberry 9. I have never treated a hangover, preferring to suffer through it. 10. I like Star Trek and Star Wars. 11. I build

Microeconomics

Well, the new class started today. It's a 5 week course in the Microeconomics. As far as I can understand from the first session it's all about Supply and Demand - fairly simple "common sense" concepts. I don't know about that though. It seems that these concepts have a large number of different variables that affect the curves in the most unpredictable way. Or maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is very simple, and I am just being freaked-out by how most people would cringe every time Economics comes up as a subject. Granted, I do not believe this class is designed to teach heavy duty economists, so there may be a lot less formulas (formulae) comparing to the undergraduate course for those trying to achieve a Business Undergraduate degree. I shall address these concerns as I would encounter them. Here's 10 basic principle of the economy as they are taught in the class. The reason I am typing them out is that maybe I'll remember them better :) #1 There is always a

After the superbowl

Well the Superbowl is over, and Steelers have won another ring, second in the past 6 years I think. Here are my thoughts on the game: 1. Commercials sucked. I can't remeber a single one of them. I do remember Danika Patrik trying to get naked for GoDaddy.com 2. Arizona's offense played better than Pittsburgh, IMHO. 3. Arizona's defense made some great stops in the red zone. Unfortunately it got clogged by fouls resulting in some bad bad yeard loss. 4. Second half was way more exciting than the first. In the end I was sitting on the edge of the couch, pulling what hair I have left. 5. Officiating was not very good. But it's not for me to judge. 5a. Roughing the passer call was bogus, Big Ben was out of the pocket. 5b. Roughing the kicker call was bogus, there was absolutely nothing the defensive player could have done to avoid collision. 6. Larry Fitzgerald is AWESOME! I ate too much pizza complimented by Miller Lite and Buffalo Wild Wings(you can never have enough wi