Freerice.com

Hi again!

this time, I want to introduce you to a nice website I have discovered:
http://freerice.com
This is a wonderful site where you can improve your knowledge of english vocabulary and at the same time, help reduce world's hunger!
How on earth is that possible you might ask? Well, basically each time you find a good answer, Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
However, the game is not easy by any means, above all for a non native english speaker such as myself. Each time you make 3 good answers in a row, you "gain" a level, and when you make one mistake, you are down one level. My personal record is level 43, but I tend to hover around level 40-41 most of the time.
Still, it's nice to know that you can waste your time on the internet and help fighting for a good cause.

I found Free Rice.com in the blog of Patrick Rothfuss (http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/blog/blog.html) who is a new sci-fi author and a promising one it seems. His first book, The Name of the Wind, is doing pretty well so far.
I haven't had time to read it yet since I have to read the whole Memory, Sorrow and Thorne series, and I am stuck at the first book, mainly because I don't really like the beginning, but also because I have so many things to read. For instance, I am reading a very good book called " A demon of our own design"


written by a risk manager in Wall street (formerly at Salomon for instance). It gives a great insider's perspective on some crisis, such as the 1987 one. Still, he might be tad pessimistic (one might say realistic...) at times about finance's future prospects.
Additionally, I have to study many books, such as the famous Hull:



or a less well known:
which are not books you can read and digest in a few hours (especially the latter).
Anyhow, when I am done with Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, I plan to read Rothfuss' book.

Merry christmas to all!

Well, it's been a long time, but I have been really really busy lately between the internship and my courses. Indeed, I spend the first three days of the week working as an assistant Fund analyst in a subsidiary of BNP Paribas Asset Management. The job is not too difficult for the moment, but I tend to finish a bit late (around 7-7.30 p.m). Hence, it is a bit difficult when I have to study after work since I am not back at home before 8 p.m. Above all since I have some courses in Finance from Thursday to Saturday (only 3 hours on Saturday) and time is also scarce during the week-ends. Recently, before the winter break, I had 3 exams in 3 weeks so that I haven't really had time to do anything else than work. At least, my exams went well, even though it was a bit weird to switch from being the one giving exams to doing the exams! Also, I am more used to typing than writing now, so that I tend to write more slowly now and I tire more quickly when I write. I guess I will get used to it.
As a whole, next year is going to be pretty tough I think, since we have a lot of exams planned, and a few dissertations also.
At least, I get to learn many things.

On the geek side, I think the forthcoming year is going to be pretty calm for me. First, because I won't really have the time to sell/buy stuff, to look at reviews on the internet, compare prices...all the things that take time. Second, I think I have found a kind of equilibrium: I have had an iphone for a month now, and even though there are things that bother me (such as the fact that there are no word counter for text messages, or that you can't delete a single text message...), it is pretty cool, and I don't see myself switching back to another phone. Maybe the next generation iphone. As to my laptop, I also really like my Toshiba R500, even though it also has a few flaws. The thing is, I don't really have that much time to use it anymore: I don't bring it to work, and I seldom use it at school; hence, I clearly don't need to get a new laptop. That might change if Apple finally releases a small 12"1 laptop weighting less than 1.5kgs (around 3.2 pounds)...but I don't think they will do that anytime soon.
I might get a new camera though: I was considering buying the Sony T200 instead of my Panasonic FX9. Still, I won't have many opportunities to make some interesting pictures next year, so that I am still a bit reluctant to buy it.
Of course, this is good news for my wallet and it will compensate all the stuff I have had to buy for work, like a few suits, ties, shoes, socks...

Given that I have lacked time recently, I don't have anything particularly interesting to share, except for a website that I have doscovered recently: www.freerice.com.
But it will be the subject of another post!

See you.