Anna Banana
Posted on October 11, 2007 by Ching under School.
So we got our Investments exams back today. I already knew I got 101% on it from looking on Blackboard. The mean was around 80% and the range was 30% to 105%. I’m not sure how you could get a 30% really. Even without coming to class, I’m sure you could get a 50% on that test. Even without reading the textbook (which I didn’t really, I just wrote down the important terms), you could do pretty well. Besides, the professor made two practice exams available. The actual test was very, very similar.
Anyway, when I got my exam back I immediately started looking at what I missed and stuff. I missed two really easy items. One multiple choice question which we even talked about before the exam. It was super easy, I couldn’t believe I missed it. Pure carelessness.
My other missed item was a matter of selecting gain or loss on one of the problems. Again, the error was the result of pure carelessness. I simply circled the wrong item. Sometimes I just wish I would slow down and review these things. I think I could have gotten an extra three points had I not missed those two things. I really, really have to make a conscious effort not to be Mrs. Speedy Gonzalez on these exams. After all, it’s not a race. I just hate exams so much that I want to get it over with as quickly as possible.
So I was whining to my friend Anna about how I wished I didn’t make such careless mistakes because then I could have gotten a better score. To make myself feel better I said, “That’s okay because you really don’t want to get the highest score and be the one who everyone else hates.” She got quiet all of a sudden and then it dawns on me that Anna got the 105%. Open mouth, insert foot. “OMG, it’s you! You’re the one who everyone else hates,” I said jokingly. We (we, as in students in general) always joke about we really hate the people who get perfect scores on exams because they end up messing up the curve. My view is that I hate it unless it’s me. Then I don’t care. LOL. Anyway, most people don’t hate the students who ace the exams, they’re really just jealous.
Anna got all of the problems right (I did too, except for the stupid gain/loss thing) and missed only one multiple choice question. Plus, she got all three possible points on the bonus question at the end of the test.
I showed her how the professor wrote “Excellent” on my exam. I don’t think she wanted to draw attention to herself as the person who aced the exam, but I think these things are to be celebrated. I said, “I did excellent, too. Just not as excellent as you did.” It’s funny because this brings back memories of all those tests and homework assignments you would get back in kindergarten and grade school with the smiley faces and stickers and such. Everyone would always compete on who got the most smiley faces or stickers.
I like to tease Anna because I have a great admiration for her. She is super smart. She comprehends stuff really quickly and everything just seems to come so naturally to her. It’s like she does well without even trying. It’s almost effortless. She is just amazing. And she is so nice and so modest about it, too.
Anyway, it’s nice to be around her because she inspires me to do better. Many times if you are around people who don’t really care about doing well in class, or don’t care whether they get a good grade or not, then you tend to slack off and not try either. When you’re around people who do well in class, then you are inspired to do your best also. This is just one of the many reasons I like being around her. She makes me want to work harder, try harder, and just be better period.
This blog entry is for Anna, one of my real life idols. You rock, girl!
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30 on the 30th
Posted on October 10, 2007 by Ching under Life, Wishlist.
Guess who’s turning 30 on the 30th! Yes, sir. It’s the big one. Twenty days and counting! Here’s what I’m drooling over these days..
Gift cards are welcome, too! =P Jen asked me what I wanted, so I told her to just get me a Franklin Covey gift card. He he. Gift cards for J.Crew, Talbots, Ann Taylor, Gap, and Eddie Bauer will work too because I need to get some new work clothes.
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Mom’s 53rd Birthday at Legends
Posted on October 9, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr, Food and Drink, Web.
Mom and dad treated the entire family to champagne brunch at Legends at Airport Hilton last Sunday to celebrate mom’s 53rd birthday. Thank you mom and dad!
Here are some of the pictures we took..
By the way, the CPDRC inmates are at it again with a new dance routine — Rico Mambo. This one is for you dad!
If this isn’t cruel and unusual punishment, I don’t know what is! LOL!
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I Need a New Hobby
Posted on October 6, 2007 by Ching under Poker.
Friday was the last day of our Customer Service Week celebration. It was casino day at work and we had loads of fun. David manned the craps table, Joni manned roulette, Darcy manned black jack (Travis filled in when she went to meet Mike for lunch) and I dealt Texas hold’em, my favorite. I skipped lunch but I didn’t really mind because I was doing something fun. I thought I could make it through to the end of the day without getting hungry, but by 12:30 my belly was crying “Feed me! Feed me!” I had a Kashi chocolate almond bar but I opted instead to eat the rest of Joni’s fries. Why is it that when we have to choose between what’s good and bad, we always end up choosing the bad stuff?
Anyway, Brian and I went to Brint’s Diner after work. Good place to eat. The only thing I really don’t like about the diner is that they servce Coke and not Pepsi. Oh, well. Mom and dad Brubaker ended up meeting us over there. Donna had liver and onions, yuck. David had country fried steak as I did except he had fries instead of mashed potatoes. We are a lot alike in terms of food choices. Brian had some kind of chicken sandwich. Boring choice but he said it was good. My favorite part of the meal was my red beans and rice soup. It is probably the best red beans and rice I’ve had. It had kielbasa in it, which I like. It was tres magnifique!
Then Brian and I went off to poker, our usual Friday night thing. We really have to quit going at some point because neither of us have made the final table in ten weeks. Can you believe it? Brian has come close but generally I am knocked out either before break or right after. I’ve been really sucky lately. You would think that since we aren’t winning and are just pretty much give our $20 away that we would come to our senses and quit going at some point. We always say “Let’s skip poker this week,” but come Friday night we always find our way to the Boulevard Banquet Hall for the Blue Collar Poker Tournament. It’s really sad.
Last night was a particularly crappy night for me. I got knocked out in three hands! It was embarrassing, but I’d gotten knocked out on the first hand before (and they actually announced it on the PA system) so it’s not my record. And certainly not my most embarrassing moment. Anyway, on my way out to get my marketing books I ran into John (Jonathan Sanchez’ dad). I found out that he got knocked in two hands so that made me feel a little bit better. LOL. Actually, chatting with him and catching up on news about he and Suzie and Jonathan and Julie is probably the best part. We got to chatting for a quite some time that Brian had to come hunt me down. I guess he was worried since I hadn’t come back with his truck keys in a long while.
Let me tell you about my three hands, though. I was big blind on my first hand, 7s 5s. Nothing spectacular but no one raised so I was in to see the flop along with five other people. It was check-check-check all the way to the river. At the end, the kid bets the minimum of $200. I think it was mostly a position-slash-feeler bet because he was last to act (or maybe second to last), but no one had anything to challenge him so everyone, including myself, lays down their hands. Simple, easy, quick.
Next hand. I am small blind this time. Two or three people fold, the rest call. It comes back to me. I look down at 9c 9s. Nice. I raise to $800 fully expecting to pick up the pot right then. Apparently, it wasn’t enough of a raise because I get three callers. Flop is blank 10 7. I am first to act. I bet $1200. I’m thinking that if they called $800 they probably have paint and missed so my pocket nines are still good. Two guys fold. I had one caller. The turn card is a 7. I fire another bullet, $1200. This is textbook. You want to fire again because you don’t want to show weakness. I get reraised to $2400. I quickly call. This was my big mistake. I should have taken the time to think and re-evaluate the situation. Anyway, it was too late. The chips were in the middle and now the river card is revealed, 5. It is a blank, completely worthless. I don’t think it helped him but it didn’t help me either. I check because I’m worried at this point. He bets $2000. I should’ve take it for what it was, a value bet begging for a call. I should’ve folded. I couldn’t put him on a 7, though, because I felt that the raise I made preflop would’ve gotten him out. “There is no way he has a 7,” I announced, “There is just no way.” I pretty much talked myself into calling. Sure enough he had a 7. He held A 7 off-suit. I was crippled.
Next hand. I am dealer. It’s call, call, call, the kid raises to $600. I looked down at pocket nines again! The exact same hand as earlier. I should’ve gone all in but I played scared and only called. I really should’ve just gone all in right then. I think I could have taken it down preflop with no showdown. Anyway, that’s not what happened. There were four callers total, so five players still in. The flop is 5c 4c 3, I can’t remember what suit the 3 was but it was red. Big blind checks. Next guy goes $1200. The kid who raised it preflop folds his hand. Dwayne calls. At this point, I’ve only got $2800 left. To call would be to commit most of my stack. My pair is above the board and I didn’t think any of them had it so my only move was to go all in. So that’s what I did. Big blind quickly goes all in over the top of me. Not a good sign. Since he is big blind, he could have A 2 for the straight or 3 4, 4 5, 3 5 for two pair. I was toast. The guy who raised to $1200 says “There goes my draw,” as he folds his hand. Dwayne thinks about it for a long time and finally calls. He commits about $8000 more in chips on K 3, bottom pair. I would say unbelievable, but it’s really not. If you’ve ever played with Dwayne, you know that he plays based on emotion. Sometimes he will call with nothing just because he thinks you are bluffing him out of the pot. Big blind held, A 5. So he had a 5, top pair but come on. Who wins pots with a pair of fives? Seriously! I guess he was counting on his straight draw also. Guess what the river card was? An ace. Of course. I dealt it. Grrrr!
Sometimes if you make too many big enough blunders you don’t last long enough to learn from your mistakes. I made the following mistakes:
- thinking that $800 was enough of a raise to get crappy hands out of my pot; in hind sight it obviously was not enough
- getting too attached to my hand and not laying it down to the reraise; I was in denial I think
- not pausing to evaluate the situation; always take time to think and consider your options, you should take as long as you need to make the best decision
- not going all in preflop on my second pocket nines because after the pot got bigger after the flop the $2800 all in was really not enough to get anyone out
These are some costly mistakes but I learned from them. You better believe it! I will play better next time.
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It’s Birthday Time
Posted on October 4, 2007 by Ching under Family, Life, School.
October is a huge month of celebrations for us. Mom’s birthday is October 6. I won’t say her age. Grandpa Clark turns 90 on the 12th, which also happens to be his wedding anniversary. And you all know that I turn 30 on the 30th. Man, I’m old!
We are celebrating mom’s birthday by having champagne brunch at Legends at the Airport Hilton on Sunday. Matt, Jennifer and the boys will be there as well. It should be fun.
Can’t have too much fun, though, because I have a Marketing exam on Monday. I will probably mark Saturday as my study day. I really don’t want to take Monday off because it is our busiest day of the week. Plus, I took a vacation day today to study for my Investments exam and don’t have too many days left.
Speaking of the Investments exam, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I think I did okay. Hopefully I didn’t make too many careless mistakes. I hate mid-terms. I had this exam, Marketing on Monday, and then an exam in Cases in Finance the following week. One exam a week. I guess it could be worse. All three exams could happen in the same week. Yuck.
I’m looking forward to two weeks from now when these exams are done, but at the same time I’m not because that means projects will be due. I keep telling Brian that I just need to survive this semester because next semester I’ll only have one more class and I am finished. Yay.
Anyway, next weekend we are celebrating Grandpa’s birthday and their wedding anniversary. I think it will be either at Red Lobster or that Chinese buffet place by the mall. My vote is for Red Lobster. Not too fond of that Chinese buffet place. It’s not up to me, though.
Then it will be time for my birthday. Brian and I kind of slacked off on the planning. I guess it will be a quiet celebration. You don’t exactly want to call attention to the fact that you’re 30. LOL. Maybe he and I could drive to Legends Mall and spend the day there. That would be fun. I guess it will all depend on whether I will have time. Between homework and projects and work and everything else, there just hasn’t been time to do much of anything lately.
We did get to watch a movie yesterday, though. So that was a welcome break. I’ll tell you about that later because Brian wants to go to bed. Until next time.
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