Innovation and Canada

Do you know that Canada is one of the lowest-ranked developed countries in the innovation field. The irony is that, at the same time, Canada is ranked one of the highest in giving tax-money back for R&D.

Where is ad creativity?

Have you noticed that some commercials are stealing ideas from other commercials?

For example, have you seen that McDonal's commercial where a guy sees someone having a BigMac so later he gets one and someone watches him eating and gets one himself and so on?

Well that commercial is the same idea as a commercial i saw long time ago where one guy smiles to someone in the street, the next guy smiles to someone else and so on till the last guy smiles to the first guy that started the commercial.

Right now in Ontario, the OLG (responsible for the lottery), has a BINGO commercial where a lady sees a lady playing bingo so she goes to play one herself and someone that saw her playing went to play one as well and so on.

What happened to creativity? and isn't that intelectual theft or whatever they call it?

A letter to my friend

Hey Steve,

That night that we met at Niagara I left with $200 profit. Then, I went there on Saturday with some friends because they wanted to gamble on such a lucky day (july 7, 2007 – 7/7/07 – 7+7+7=21) but that night I felt like trying the $2/$5 after your advice.

I was quite for awhile studying the dynamics, then I went up to $500 then down to $100 ( I filled it to $200 twice, so I had invested $400) then I went up to $900 and then i played a hand very bad, here are the details:

I had QJs, I raised to $20 and 3 guys called,

At the flop one asian guy opened his eyes wide open when he saw the flop so I knew he got a monster hand.

so then I checked the flop, it was TQ5

so everyone checked to me, I bet $35, the asian guy raises to $70, the next one reraises to $140 and the third guy calls it, so it is back to me, I analyse so I put the asian on QT, the second guy on AQ and the third on Q and some low card. So obviously after the tell and the reraises I should have fold but for some unknow reason I called.

At this time there was $500+ in the pot, the turn comes something useless, the asian bets $100 everyone calls so there is like $800 in the pot and even though I know I am beat I call, the river is an ace, asian checks , second guy goes $200, third calls, I say what the f@#$ and I call and asian calls.

Results, asian had pocket 10s, second guy had AQ(I got it 100% right, it made me so happy, third guy mucked)

So from there I was on a tilt, I went up to $410 and then my friends wanted to leave…so I made $10….hurray

I had mixed feelings because I knew exactly what was going on but till now I don’t know why I wasted close to $500 on that hand. The good news is that I could have made $500 easily J

Ok see ya at the tables before Aug (I am going to Chile for Aug before I start school, and will try the casinos in there and let you know)

~EV

Lucky day comes only once every century

Today is a special day for gamblers; it is July 7, 2007 or 7/7/07 = 7+7+7=21.
I am not a gambler and i don't believe in superstition but a lot of people do, specially asians. i frequent Casino Fallsview where there is a majority of asian players, so today is a great day for me to make some big winnings because they will be relying more on the luck factor and more-than-usual amount of money will pass hands.

This post reminds me of a little trick i use on hardcore supersticious people. When I want them to call my raise; i raise $21, most times i get calls. However, when i am bluffing, i only raise to $13 and they will fold. Since the table has some pros this trick doesn't work on them that is why i only use it if the pros already folded or if i got a tell that they most likely will fold.

On another topic,I came to the plant for a couple of hours to make sure everything was fine, when i am done i will meet some friends and head down to Niagara and have some fun.

Yesterday i gave my notice to my employer. I was relieved that i finally made it and i already feel 10 pounds lighter. I am so excited about school, the opportunities and my future. I know i have a lot of hard work ahead of me but i am up to the challenge....and wasn't that one of my main reasons i wanted to go back to school?...the challenge.

Work is out, school is in!

So as most of you know i will be quiting my job at the end of July to start full time MBA in September. I will use August mainly for 3 reasons:
1. A long-deserved vacation. Since i entered university in 2000 till now, i haven't really taken a vacation, i have always been doing something. So i am planning to use this vacation mainly to discover Ontario.
2. Focus on my FOREX system, it is a great system, it has a lot of potential and one month will give me an opportunity to exploit all of its potential.
3. Get back in top shape. Despite looking and feeling thinner for the last couple of months due to my daily bike commute to work, i can't help it but feel weak. I have lost 3" in my chest, 2" on each bicep and lost a lot of definition. So my focus will be this month to work out and get ready to go full-blast starting September.

Investment Firm Idea

A couple of months ago I opened a real FOREX account with Gain Capital. At first I had some loses due to mistaken trades and bad/mixed signals, but for the last month I have been trying a new simple system that I have developed and it has shown me good return. In the last 7 days I made 47%! The most I have lost is 5% and the biggest day return has been 23%.

I have an idea of opening a small FOREX firm where I invest people’s money for a 4% monthly return with an 80% guarantee on their deposit. The return sounds tempting to most investors (that is a 48% annual ROI) and if 80% of their investment is guaranteed it will make it an investment hard to refuse.

I admit that my last week return is not sustainable, so my goal is more realistic, my goal is to make 1% per day (that is 34% a month or 30% after I pay my investors).

It is too early to say but I will keep you guys posted on my progress.

Lost Resolved!!!!

Ok, I haven't posted for a long time. I am the contributer to this blog, but I think i have come up with an explanation to this weird series, Lost.

It is an island of lost souls, and therefore comes the name Lost. Ok, let's analyse this.

It has been confirmed twice by two different characters that all the guys in the plane should be dead. We know it is not heaven, and can't be hell, that would be stupid and non-creative. So it is a place where all this Lost souls are put together. I know it may be a little ridiculous, but if we remember the Desmond episode where there was this old lady who was selling the ring, and that knew who would die, then we can get a feeling of the direction of the writers: Supernatural phenomena, destiny, etc. Notice how every single character of the crashed plane that has been introduced to us has a dark history, exept for John Lock, the special one, the chosen.
Also notice how everyone has a file, how else would they gather so much information about such intimate things.
This explains a lot of things, like the black weird thing that kills people, it is like the demon that comes to collect souls. The submarine represented the way out of the Lost island, therefore moving to a better place, saving the soul. Think about Charlie, he must die, and Desmond knows that. His sould should no longer be in the island.
The others could be considered as, i don't know, angels or something of that sort. This makes us think about why women can't have children in the island. Why John is walking again (when you go to Heaven, Hell, or wherever, you are supposed to go with your whole body, not part of it, this brings a whole new discussion).
I still haven't figured this out, I would really appreciate if you would give me your inputs about this, why you thing it is stupid or not, or help to solve the puzzle. Like Dharma??What is Dharma. How the russian didn't die?

Investment Banking

Today I was considering the different choices I would have after I finish my MBA. After working as an engineer for 3 years, I’ve realized that engineering was underpaid for the amount of hours that I work and the responsibilities that I have.

Therefore, I decided to focus my MBA in a direction that would help me obtain a career in a profession that aligns with my values, skills and goals. I have narrowed it down to investment banking. In this industry you require the following skills:
spreadsheet (at least when you start as a financial analyst),
math,
interpersonal,
presentation skills, and
multi-tasking.

Surely this position makes a lot of money but you have to work really hard for it and sacrifice some personal time, investment bankers are known to work as much as 120 hours a week! However, IB pays really good specifically here in Toronto due to the lack of good IBs.

My plan is to study really hard and be deeply involved in the finance club at Schulich so it will facilitate me to get an internship in an Investment Bank like Goldman or Merrill.

I will post more details later on,

MBA @ Schulich

So last week I got accepted to Schulich for the MBA program (that was the only school i applied for), too bad i cannot do it full-time then i would have applied other places outside of Canada.

Since it starts in September I am preparing myself to have no social life as i know it now for the next three years. So I will enjoy this summer as much as i can.

So people what do you think about my new blog's look? lovely eh?

New camera

A couple of weeks ago i broke my digital camera (oooops). Despite having an extended warranty (which i misplaced) I decided to get a new camera. After a lot of comparison between the new cameras i decided to go for the Canon Powershot A640. Great camera i am just having trouble connecting it to my computer (damn XP).

I will update more later, i am tired and i need to re-energize.

30% return in 3 days.

So far I got 30% return on my demo account, in 3 days! I have been reading lots about FOREX and technical analysis I believe I am improving by the minute!

I can’t wait till I open an actual; account and become rich…hahahaha

Well I know FOREX is risky business and you have to be smart about it (90% of traders lose in FX).

Forex Trading

This post is a follow up to the last post.
So I was looking for different ways to invest and here are the options and conclusions:

1. Mutual Funds: I am already doing that with a nice return but I feel I could do more.
2. Real Estate: I thought about this idea with a friend of mine that actually works in the industry. We decided to postpone it because my credit is not top notch and the real estate prices in Toronto are too high and we predict the bubble will burst anytime soon.
3. Stocks: This was a tempting option since I follow the markets and business news very closely so I have an idea where to invest. The drawbacks are the trading fees and the minimum capital you need is a little high.
4. Futures: Too complex, I didn’t really look too deep into this and I lost interest.
5. Forex Trading: I wanted to try this for a loooong time but I was under the impression that I needed a lot of capital. However, after doing some investigation I found out that you do not need a lot of capital (just $250) to open a mini account. Also, Forex trading is easy, fun and can be partially automated!

I started a ‘demo’ account yesterday night for 10,000 and I am already at 11,000 from 2 trades I automated before going to bed; when I woke up they were done…awesome.

So my plan is to try the demo for a month, see how I perform then open a mini account. I could open a standard account for 2,000 but I believe using a mini account my confidence will build up and I can play it safe before opening a standard account.

Guys, I will keep you daily updated on my demo account.

Cheers,

Change of Gears

I have been talking about poker for 99% of my posts, so I decided to change it a bit and I will talk about my personal and professional growth goals for these couple of years.

Health – Lose weight and become 225 lbs @ 14% body fat

In September I was 313 lbs and 32% body fat, through proper eating and exercise I have been able to drop my weight to 291 lbs and 27% body fat. I am confident that I can lose the weight like I did 3 years ago BUT this time I will stick to it.

Fitness – Commute both to and from work on my bike during the summer

I partially did this since I just got my bike at the end of the summer.

Financial – Double my savings

I was a great saver when I had no obligations but once the obligations kicked in I saved a lot less so the challenge is to save while you have obligations as well.

Financial – Diversify my portfolio and get ROI of 20% for this year.

Mainly I have been investing in mutual funds and it has been great but I will introduce stocks in the picture see what happens.

Education – Do my MBA

I will apply for admission this September at York University so I can do it part-time while I work.

Career

I have a lot of goals for this but instead of boring you I will tell you that I am planning to finish all my projects and increase the uptime in the plant.

So that’s it, I will let you know what I achieve and what not at the end of this year.

Brought to you by…
EV

What is in the 2007 vault?

Happy New Year!

I know, i know, i apologize i haven't posted for a while. I was really busy with work and i was under the weather.

I bet all of you are excited about 2007, I am!
First of all, even though i know you are not interested but i want to mention that i have lost 25 LBS since december 1st, i feel great and i feel my poker has improved "a healthy mind in a healthy body".

As you remember i said i was off online poker for good. So i started to frequent an underground poker place in downtown Toronto. Mainly i have been playing tournaments. So far i haven't won any but made it in the money most of the times. The thing is that most players are asian, and i don't won't to offend anyone but i noticed from long time ago that asian poker players are the toughest and riskiest; they see poker from a different perspective than everyone else. I am planning to crack their secret :)

On Jan 2nd, I got an email from PartyPoker that I have a $20 bonus. I said to myself why not use it, i am not losing anything. So i have been playing single-table tournaments and I have been making it in the money (top 3) 80%, I decided to see how far i can take the $20.

As for my poker plans for this year, I am planning to go to Vegas in April to play some tournaments and do what I am doing now; play in the underground place and SNG games online with the bonus i got.

Well I will keep the blog updated and good luck.

EV