Dearest reader,
A belated Happy Xmas to you! I hope you and your loved ones have both a healthy and a prosperous New Year.
I'll post in detail in the next few days and give you an update of P0 and miscellaneous items (...........I'm sure you just cannot contain your excitement).
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Logistics "mini" rant
Dear reader,
I have no idea how long this post will be, I just needed to "let it all out."
A few comments:
a) Apologies for not posting in the recent past - its manic.
b) Housing in Singapore is astronomically expensive.
The favourite haunts for INSEAD students are very close to campus, but boy do you pay for the privilege. Also, the whole rental system is very different to North America and Europe in terms of what different definitions mean (fully furnished vs part furnished).
I think INSEAD students should make try to manipulate the market by grouping together and setting prices. Now this might start an Anti-Trust investigation in the US but if everyone agreed that this was the price for 2bdr or 3 bdr and offered only that we would all then benefit as landlords would be faced with getting no rent or a certain consistent rate. Of course this does bring into play the prisoner's dilemma (or so I'm told by a smarter person than I).
Alternatively, live a 20 minute bus ride away and reduce the rental by 20%. Some might suggest cycling - well a friend of mine emailed from Singapore and advised me that it was presently cold there "mind you its still 75 degrees Fahrenheit" -and given the humidity by the time you get to campus it will look like you just walked out of a sauna/shower combination, although with the added fragrance that heat and exercise bring.....
c) Banks are strange- they know you are going to do a top MBA and may offer pots of cash (at very commercial rates of interest), but then "cheese" you off by making silly, careless mistakes. If you travel a lot you could try the HSBC premier account (I'm looking at it right now - but the requirements could be (and are) beyond me!).
d) I love my laptop -highly recommend Toshiba - competitive price but (with all due respect to Necromonger) a better performance than the Lenovo.
e) Getting a flight to Singapore with Singapore airlines is nigh on impossible presently - its like there has been a run on the seats and everyone has booked one!
f) The potential summer internships with banks in Asia require preparation of CVs pre-mid December.
g) The to do list has hit over 30 items despite working solidly on sorting myself out for the last 2 weeks.
h) I have not read any of the pre-reading (unlike two of my class who began in October!!!) and have not done any work on my third language.
i) Blah, Blah, Blah....
I will try to blog more regularly (again how does Necromonger do it?)
Well , as Shrek said "better out than in" (a challenge for you - which number film and to which scene does this refer)
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.
Robert Fulghum
I have no idea how long this post will be, I just needed to "let it all out."
A few comments:
a) Apologies for not posting in the recent past - its manic.
b) Housing in Singapore is astronomically expensive.
The favourite haunts for INSEAD students are very close to campus, but boy do you pay for the privilege. Also, the whole rental system is very different to North America and Europe in terms of what different definitions mean (fully furnished vs part furnished).
I think INSEAD students should make try to manipulate the market by grouping together and setting prices. Now this might start an Anti-Trust investigation in the US but if everyone agreed that this was the price for 2bdr or 3 bdr and offered only that we would all then benefit as landlords would be faced with getting no rent or a certain consistent rate. Of course this does bring into play the prisoner's dilemma (or so I'm told by a smarter person than I).
Alternatively, live a 20 minute bus ride away and reduce the rental by 20%. Some might suggest cycling - well a friend of mine emailed from Singapore and advised me that it was presently cold there "mind you its still 75 degrees Fahrenheit" -and given the humidity by the time you get to campus it will look like you just walked out of a sauna/shower combination, although with the added fragrance that heat and exercise bring.....
c) Banks are strange- they know you are going to do a top MBA and may offer pots of cash (at very commercial rates of interest), but then "cheese" you off by making silly, careless mistakes. If you travel a lot you could try the HSBC premier account (I'm looking at it right now - but the requirements could be (and are) beyond me!).
d) I love my laptop -highly recommend Toshiba - competitive price but (with all due respect to Necromonger) a better performance than the Lenovo.
e) Getting a flight to Singapore with Singapore airlines is nigh on impossible presently - its like there has been a run on the seats and everyone has booked one!
f) The potential summer internships with banks in Asia require preparation of CVs pre-mid December.
g) The to do list has hit over 30 items despite working solidly on sorting myself out for the last 2 weeks.
h) I have not read any of the pre-reading (unlike two of my class who began in October!!!) and have not done any work on my third language.
i) Blah, Blah, Blah....
I will try to blog more regularly (again how does Necromonger do it?)
Well , as Shrek said "better out than in" (a challenge for you - which number film and to which scene does this refer)
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.
Robert Fulghum
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