New Year New Goals

Havent written in such a long while. Done pretty a lot for the past year though CFA probably took up most of that time. Took trips to Shanghai, Huangshan, Fujisan again, back home, Kyoto and Nara. Scraped through CFA level 1 and JLPT 1 but didnt take the exam for phd. I love to be an academics but it is scary to look back on my own life and realize that all I have got to show are pieces of papers. I have tremendous respect for my professors, each of them top in their field of interest rate policies and regional currency integration. No matter how elegant their theories are, ultimately the decision making lies in the hand of bureaucrats. I want to do something, positive do something with my hands. 

The aim for this new year is perhaps to try for Phd taking again. I still itch to pass the exam though its hard, just to claim that I can. I have reached the highest level of JLPT, but quite reluctant to take the BJT because I cant find the time and motivations. Otherwise, I have to settle down and get a job back in KL/Sg. Hopefully something that can utilize my qualifications. Should be done by November so I can have the remaining time in college to relax and hang back before LIFE starts.  The Master thesis has to be done by Oct/Nov 08. CFA Level 2 on 6th June 08. Another year, another mountain to climb. 1

Last Week. This Week

Last weekend. Did up some summary for 1 digit SITC data. It is really interesting, that most of the worlds export is CAR ! it made up about 30+% for some countries' export and is at least 10% for all countries. Oh, I summarized by adding up the top few 2 digit SITC data for all countries involved. Again, it is very interesting to note that in newly developed economies in China Korea and Japan, trading in a few goods make up a larger percentage of the total export. Comparatively, export by matured economies are more diversified. Again, i believe it is just a different approach to growth. It should not be seen as a right and wrong thing.

I have so much to do for the coming weeks so I am trying to keep my spirit up and work hard for them. For this weekend, I downloaded Latex and tried my hand at some basic formatting. It is difficult but hopefully I can get something out soon. Studied one chapter for Volatility Movement Models, basics for ARCH. I am trying to improve upon stochastic models to incorporate expectations and bubbles so this class is really helpful. Suppose to finish up an internship report too but I am so out of time, sigh.

Stats

Stats! it is actually interesting.
check out this presentation
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92?gclid=CLexzpTu8o4CFQdEFQodDk2eDg
and this database chart
http://tools.google.com/gapminder/

Going for guidances for classes this sem. Very tempted for Econometrics, but its so hard.

11 Days

Finished up with 3 digit coding. Used a different approach to coding so the pages is simplified and I can see whats happening with the program (Yea, I am a control freak). The average run takes 10 minutes but thats mostly because of some underlying process in excel which takes seconds before each cycle is repeated. Well, 10 minutes is bearable. No point spending time to optimize it.

Oh, spent last week finishing up FF 7 CC too. Great game. Still havent gotten the Ultima Sword but I will work on it when I have time again. Total time spent, 21 hrs now. Wohoo, I can understand the language for the whole game!

Went to Tokyo Game Show for the weekend. and Disney Sea too. Both was fun, but wow I spent 6 hrs to travel back and forth twice to Chiba the past weekend.
Disney Sea, finished most attractions except the 360 degree thingy and 20000 miles thingy which was closed. Definitely worth the 4700 Y. Oh i ate szechuanese food too. Not authentic, the smell dont even stain my clothes.

Study Takatoshi Ito and Tomoyoshi Yabu Senseis paper today again.
WHAT PROMOTES JAPAN TO
INTERVENE IN THE FOREX MARKET?
A NEW APPROACH TO A REACTION FUNCTION
Downloaded the data to try my hand at some analysis. Normally the regression etc is done with stats packages, but I hate those because of their inflexibility. So I am programming them in Excel and will try to build some optimizers to run my own analysis. Frankly, if the regression involves min/maxing a number by changing another, it should be able to be done easily with Solver. Well, at least thats my assumption. Weird, some results dont match up. It boil down to the asssumptions made, like how many days are there in a year. What a chore to try to match them back up.

Ohh and I just spend 990usd to register for CFA. I guess it is for real now. No turning back, gosh its so much money, I better work hard.

How to find the pronunciation (yomikata) 読み方 漢字 for japanese words

first.. cut what you want to translate by highlighting and cutting the kanji

open a blank note document
paste it in.

highlight it and choose the last option .. sai hen kan　再変換.
after that a list will drop out and there you have it the yomikata..
had been trying to find out about this for a long time and its so easily done.

Not sure if it will work in non japanese OS though

completed the analysis for the rest of 2 digit data yesterday. have to program the algorithm for 3 digit soon. seem like the bottleneck is windows. there is a huge lag between save and run for the program. no way i can resolve it.

hmm

gave up on taking the comp because I am so unprepared and I dont even know if I want to do Phd. Started my study of Greene Appendix because it is crucial to understanding Advanced Econometrics next sem. 70 pages to be done by beginning of Oct. Did 7 today.