two natural disasters within a week

Hello East Coast, mother nature said hi.

On August 23, a 5.9 earthquake originated from Virginia shook the eastern sea board. The effects of the quake were felt all the way from Canada. I was on the 9th floor of a building in downtown Manhattan when the quake struck. The entire building swayed for a few seconds but I didn't realize it was an earthquake until my coworkers started to talk about it. When I looked out the window, I saw people from other buildings flush out of their offices and into the streets. They were afraid that they wouldn't make it out if another quake occurred. But honestly, if buildings were to topple over, you can't run anywhere. I think I would simply stay put rather than getting crushed to death. It was a nice excuse for people to take a break from work, after all our lives are incredibly dull and a little excitement was needed.

To sum up the 5.9 quake:


The second great big disaster was hurricane Irene. It was predicted to have unprecedented collateral damage done to the eastern coast.

Mayor Bloomberg instructed the people in the orange and yellow areas to evacuate. I was in danger zone A and I wanted to leave. After reading up on some information on Hurricane Katrina, I planned to camp in Baruch since it was a designated evacuation zone in Manhattan. In the end my parents convinced me to stay put because they feared I would be stuck in Manhattan with no means of returning, for days perhaps. The entire MTA public transportation shut down due to flooding. I was so glad I stayed home, we didn't lose power or get flooded. None of the predictions came true, thankfully. By the time it reached New York City, the storm became a category 1 and was no big deal.

future goal

I want to move to Sweden one day. I have nothing against the US, but something tells me I'll enjoy life much more over there.

Got Fios?

Finally got Verizon Fios Fiber-optics internet. For being such a long loyal customer of Verizon, they offered us a 2 year contract for $70 a month for unlimited phone calls and internet service. The technician had to drill a hole in the wall and the landlord wouldn't let him drill through the bricks. Luckily for us, there was a wooden part of the window that he let be drilled. Fios internet is awesome, not gonna lie.

Remember this post? I went to Borders today and the discount on books are slashed to 70-90%. They kept slashing prices every 2 weeks or so until this point where they have almost sold everything. The store will remain open for one more week. I wanted to grab a ton of books off the shelves but the books left were mostly unwanted stuff that people didn't pick up.

How I learn stuff

For my minor capstone, I decided to take monetary policy. The class itself is very poorly structured. The professor is an employee of AIG and for the first 6 classes, he was absent for half of them. Teaching at Baruch is a second job for him and there isn’t much to say about it. The textbook we are assigned is written for and by the British. This is because the only book that is updated for the current situation is this one. The way he teaches the class is very different from the rest of the school. Instead of using PowerPoint slides like every other lazy professor, he writes on the board and dictates the information. This old school type of teaching and in my opinion far more effective than the current trend. What do students do when the professor hands them the notes in class (in the form of PP slides)? They slack off, fail to pay attention, and reread the slides when midterms come along. PP slides are meant to be an aid to the lecture, not the notes. This type of teaching is far less effective than writing on the board.


Here’s why: When you are writing your own notes, a certain mental capacity and willpower is needed in order to follow the lecture. From my own personal perspective, learning is best done this way. It is the precise reason why I did so well in HS, back when all they did was write on the board. You see, when the professor writes on the board, he isn’t supposed to write everything down for you. What he writes down is part of the formula and the meaning behind the symbols you must listen and jot down for yourself. The problem with most students is that they are mindless drones that imitate what the professor writes down without properly absorbing the information the professor supplements the lecture with. So you wrote down the formula, when you look back, you have no idea what they represent. For me, I don’t simply copy, I create my own notes, due to my understanding of what is told to me. It’s similar to learning how to do something on a job; your boss shows you how to do it once. You must pay attention during the demonstration and make sure you have a crystal clear understanding or else you’ll forget. This is also why I am not a fan of getting notes from someone else. If you don’t understand what the person is writing, how can you study from someone else’s notes?


It’s quite a phenomenon in the class because no one is falling asleep during his lecture. No one dares fall asleep because if you do, you’ll miss out. This is why old school lecturing is so powerful. It keeps students on their toes and forces them to focus. Otherwise in the other scenario, they cut or fall asleep knowing the information is and will be made available to them on Blackboard. It hurts the student because the lack of care. When notes are given to me, I don’t even bother looking at them until the day before the exam. That is not learning, it is cramming. If I ever become a professor, I would definitely do a good job at teaching because I know how to break info down and the best way to deliver it.