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.

lazy days

redone analysis yesterday because some error was found. overcame by an inertia today, really dont feel like studying or doing anything. wish i can regain my energy soon

Research Project

Data is still lacking. But what the hey, the exam is inching up and I cant afford time later on. So got the whole framework and data analysis and result extraction coded up in VBA. Its all working, sweet. But yet to finish hamilton paper. its deeep. watching too much house md. ughugh

sept 2

didnt do much today. Had dinner with A classmates.
Washed off the remaining ashes from Mnt Fuji.
Finished up my detailed study of yesterday paper. Continued reading Jack.
Was thinking of programming the filters out for the research project I am doing, but seem like the data is incomplete and I wonder when the full dataset can come in.

1st Sept Hamilton Paper

I read 100 pages of Jack straight from the gut. Got it from amazon for 700 Yen. Nice read. Many key point to strategic planning and relational management skills.

Read Jim Hamilton s paper on Daily Monetary Policy Shocks and Delayed Response of New Home Sales. I attended his lecture when he was over at my university. The paper is interesting because I am aiming for similar direction in research.

In answering its own policy aims, the authority has to first know how the market can react. That in effect is to answer to the question "What do market currently expect me to do?".
By solving that first step, it is then possible to look at how the policy that is implemented into the market takes effects. Hamilton concluded that policy change has long lag in housing market because of heterogeneity of house buyer.

Read a section of Wooldridge Econometrics on forecasting.

Goals

Let me spell out some goals I seek to achieve at the start of the blog.

I have to pass these exams in the near future so my schedule revolves around preparing for them and of course enjoying life, company of my friends, satisfying my own intellectual curiosity and entertaining myself too.

Phd Comprehensive Exam, Macroeconomics - 13th September 07
JLPT Level 1 - 2nd December 07
CFA Leve 1 - 3rd June 07

In the middle of them, I need to do well for my finals each semester at Master lvl of graduate school. In addition, I am also trying to level up my own research to a level where I can get invited to the computational economics forum next year (in paris!).

In my holidays I am also working as a research assistant for my ex prof from Sg, who is now in a Japanese University. In my Zemi we have to report on our progress once every two weeks.

study blog

its when i check the calendar that i realized that half of the summer holidays have passed. my birthday also reminded me that 25 years of my life has passed. this diary is just an attempt to try to slow down the passing of time. or at least record its passing.