Get out your big wigs and flare pants

Good ol' dance songs

How good it feels to be back

I am back... not just to my regular life, but to the place I consider one of the most dear cities to me.... Toronto

And by the way, that tax exam went awesome. I don't know why I was so worried


Ah, how good it feels to be back !


These are the things I would like to do on my 2 week stay in Toronto:

1. See as many as my friends as possible
2. Go skiing
3. Go skating beside City Hall
4. Read at least one novel (a break from textbooks)
5. Buy presents
6. Make sure Megumi has a great stay at our place
7. See New Year fireworks
8. Cook special meals
9. Get back on my usual work out schedule
10. Take advantage of Boxing day


Let the fun times begin!

16.5 Hours to go until tax exam

I don't think I've ever been so stressed out about exams as I am now. I am very worried about Tax tomorrow. Audit and Adv. Management Acco just pushed me to the wall, stole all my strength and motivation and ran off to Haiti.

And now, I am all out for Tax. All out.

Unfortunately, I am stressed to the point that every morning I wake up, open my eyes and see numbers and formulas fading away from my dream.

Today, I thought about deferring the exam, but I realized that it I've never done that up till now, and it's best that I not do it.

Blogs are good. They give you a break..... From everything.

Stuck in my head

I used to hate this song 5 years ago, now I somehow seem to connect to it in a way which I don't know myself






"Black Black Heart"

Something ugly this way comes
Through my fingers sliding inside
All these blessings all these burns
I'm godless underneath your cover
Search for pleasure search for pain
In this world now I am undying
I unfurl my flag my nation helpless

Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds

As I begin to lose my grip
On these realities your sending
Taste your mind and taste your sex
I'm naked underneath your cover
Covers lie and we will bend and borrow
With the coming sign
The tide will take the sea will rise and time will rape

Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds

Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds

Just thought I'd post this funny comic :) It's unfortunate and true

3:31 am

I think the title just says it all...

I am an owl.

Thats right, I can turn my head 270 degrees... I also lack my sense of sarcasm at this hour.


My exam time schedule usually ends up being the same for about 2 weeks. Wake up at 11-12 pm. Stay up till 4-5 am exhausted and unable to change this terrible habit.

Here is something interesting. Today my exam ended at nearly midnight. I guess this is where my being an owl pays off. I get to be the most awake person in the room. I have the competitive advantage.

I am proud of myself this semester. I have gotten over my coffee addiction. I now spend exams coffee free and I didn't even attend counseling.

I have also run out of closet space to put my textbooks so now there are stacks of them all over my living room. I would love to through them off my balcony one day and then run downstairs and bring them back up. I always picture this in my head.

When I think back to when I began my studies at JMSB, I wonder how fast these 3 yrs have passed. I have managed to fit 9 full time semesters into these 3 years and time flew by so quickly.

My last semester starts after the holidays and then I get my reward - a break.

As for right now, I must get some sleep before Taxation at 8:45 am.

The "no name" post

Its been a while since I actually enjoyed reading a textbook. What I mean by "enjoyment" is not my usual "trying-hard-to-be-productive-mood", but rather the "fun- upbeat-feeling". Ahh, yes, fun textbooks are rare.

I will get to the purpose of my post now...
So I was reading my advanced management textbook today about action controls (rules imposed by management on staff during day to day activities) and the author seemed to try very hard to prove to me, that these so called action controls have a minor disadvantage - "lack of creativity"

And so, he managed to convince me of this by just writing one sentence, which was "In some cases this discouragement is not a significant disadvantage, for example, creativity from pilots in the air is not normally desirable"

I conclude this post with a message to Robert Simons (the author).

Sir, could you please write more custom made textbooks for John Molson School of Business. I would greatly appreciate it. It seems the two of us have some kind of textbook-humor connection.

It doesn't happen very often.

Variances made easy!

These easy to remember formulas are an addition to the Variance Table which I have put up a couple of months ago.



Price Variance = [Actual Price- Budgeted Price] x Actual Volume

Mix and Volume Variance = [Actual Volume-Budgeted Volume] x CM/unit*


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Mix Variance = [(Total Actual Volume x Budgeted %)- Total Actual Volume] x CM/unit

Volume Variance = [(Total Actual Volume x Budgeted %) - Budget Sales] x CM/unit

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Variable Cost Variances

DM Variance = [Budgeted DM rate x Materials Produced]- Actual DM

DL Variance = [Budgeted DL rate x Materials Produced]- Actual DL

VOH Variance = [Budgeted VOH rate x Materials Produced]- Actual VOH


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fixed Cost Variances

Selling Variances = Actual Selling Cost- Budgeted Selling Cost

Administrative Variances = Actual Admin. Cost- Budgeted Admin. Cost

Going back to classics

It doesn't get better than this...

Too many passwords?

I tried to log onto my blogger account for an hour. It was like playing a guessing game with myself. "Is it something longer than 6 ALFA NUMERIC keys?", “Is it a pet's name?", "Is it my mother’s maiden name?", "is it the name of the street adjacent to the one which my father's uncle grew up on?" (It's none of these, by the way)

Nowadays, there are passwords for everything that you use: debit and credit cards, savings accounts, email accounts, "Facebook" accounts, personal computers, billing accounts. The list goes on and on.

I think the further we go the more of these accounts we have to deal with. But how do we manage all of our passwords? Is it good to have extra security or is it an additional hassle?

I honestly don't know. I guess it really depends on the person. Some feel happy when they are secured, others like myself, are easily frustrated when life gets too complicated.

So how do you think I figured out my blogger password? I didn't. But, I created a new password (for the 459th time).

Now I am good.....................until my next post

Reality vs. Truth ?

I recently heard someone ask me: "Who are we?.... We are the generation Y.... We question everything...." This statement made me think about how many new theories and discoveries were made in the past century and how we, the 19-29 year olds, have reacted to them.

The questions which we ask range from religion to life style to politics to..... well, the beginning of life. But how far into the land of curiosity do we go, until we reach crazy? Do some of us even know when to stop before our mind closes in on us? But is it cowardly of us to walk away from the "possible truth"?

The Anunaki, the Reptilians, the Humanoids, all these terms are very familiar to the modern generations. But thanks to youtube and google, generation Y questions these theories even more than the previous generations. The harm in this is that sometimes there is a thin line between being curious and actually believing (and worshiping even). And we all need to remember that sometimes even science can not be proven; nonetheless, theories mentioned above are not facts and should be questioned. After all that’s what we, Gen Y'rs, do best, right?

So, to conclude this all, I say, - "You can dig yourself a hole, just make sure you don't fall in it"

For The Love of Cost Management Accounting

I decided to put up this next post for those of you studying for the upcoming Cost Management exam.

If your textbook is as confusing as mine, I hope that my summary will help you out.

Since, I did not find a complete map of variances and their calculations on the web, I decided to construct my own.

I primarily concentrated on Flexible Budget Variances. I hope to make a map for Sales Volume Variances in the future.





Click to enlarge

Food for Thought: Current Fascination

I like to think of myself as a healthy eater. And I also love international foods; things that make my mouth go “Hmm, that’s interesting”. However, a recent discovery of one of the healthiest international foods, won the “First Post Award” on my new blog.

As usual, I was walking down St. Catherine Street after my accounting lecture Wednesday morning, as I suddenly caught a craving for Korean spicy food. I reminisced those days of my childhood when I would try Korean spiced mushrooms at the market with my mother. The feelings came back and I stepped inside the Korean store, looking for a piece of my childhood.

A 750ml bottle – spicy Kimchi, caught my eye and I knew I had to purchase it at any cost. Later at home I discovered the following facts about Kimchi :

• It is commonly made out of cabbage-"baechu" (or Chinese cabbage) and red peppers


• Since the fermentation process of Kimchi is so complex, it’s known to have more lactic acid than yogurt, making it good for intestines and a great antibacterial food


• There are many fermentation periods. However, the best Kimchi is fermented for at least 2 weeks.


• For those of you who are concerned with salt, it contains very little of it. And it also has about 17 types of acids, including acetic acid.


• Has high levels of Vitamins B,C, Beta Carotene and also Vitamins B1, B2, B12( which double after a 3 week fermentation)

Believe it or not, there is more and I am enjoying reading about this fascinating food.

Next time you are at a Korean food store, grab some Kimchi and try it to see what the fuss is all about. I guarantee you will enjoy it!

Cheers!

for more info:

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/kimchi/kimchi.cfm?xURL=nutrition

And so...

3......2.....1....Start! Let the madness begin!