Happy New Year!

Laura and a couple of icons would like to wish you Happy New Year and all the best for 2008!

Laura in Bali

Over the holidays, I went to Bali, which was filled with rain, temples, clouds, sculptures, and greenery. There are more pictures here than average, but you're on holiday, try to strengthen your attention span.

Happy Holidays

Laura in Singapore wishes you all the best for the holidays!

Fruit of the Week

The fruit of the week is the pomelo. Since I'm studying marketing, I've come up with some slogans for the pomelo. Do you see a career for me in citrus marketing?

1) Pomelo, a great big fruit experience.
2) Pomelo. Super-size it.

3) Pomelo. Compensating for something?

4) Pomelo, a freak of natural goodness.

5) Pomelo, kicking the ass of smaller citrus.

6) There's a little Pomelo in all of us.

7) Pomelo, making lil' citrus weep.

The vegetable of the week is shown below. While I believe it is some sort of turnip, googling its Chinese (Pinyin) name yields only, um, nudity-oriented sites. Stay tuned.

Exam Strategies

Right now, I am studying for exams. To help with our grades, my group and I have come up with the following strategies for achieving high exam grades:

1) For all questions, regardless of what is asked, calculate what you know. Then elaborate on said calculation. If no data is available for this, make something up.

2) Once you do that, randomly multiply and divide different numbers available. That will look good and hopefully get partial credit.

3) Do calculations very neatly so as to appear confident and in control. Use a ruler to draw lines places, signifying subtotal, cost, etc. Avoid erasing incorrect calculations. Instead, just demonstrate your subject mastery by re-starting the question via an "alternative approach".

4) Use verbose explanations in between calculations to explain what you're doing. Try not to relate these to actual calculations in order to break up the flow a little. Use words like paradigm and streamline.

5) Carry all incorrect calculations to at least 4 decimal places to prove that you're diligent and accurate in your ignorance.

6) Draw at least one whale diagram, even if the question does not ask about customer profitability. Such diagrams are pretty, and help the marker with his self esteem. Conversely, do not draw the death spiral, no one wants to see that.

7) Liberally use the acronyms and terms between the numbers, that will confuse the professor into thinking that you really know something.

8) Ensure that all 16 pages of the booklet are full of numbers and acronyms for a high quality exam.

Boat Quay

Here are some pictures of Boat Quay by day and night.

Boat Quay is a row of bars and restaurants along the river, at the Elgin Bridge, Singapore's first river crossing. While Clarke Quay has taken some of Boat Quay's allure, Boat Quay is much more romantic.

Monkeys in Singapore

Since I love long-tailed macaques, I went to see them at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which is a rainforest park in central Singapore. There was more to see in Bukit Timah than the monkeys. This is the view from the highest point in Singapore, whose hills have mostly been removed to reclaim land from the sea.

Surpsingly, the first thing I saw at the park was this sign, which I've used before for our office rules (do not feed the Darryl) so I knew it was serious business. More monkeys here.