Savour 2013

I was looking through the website of SAVOUR.

Really wanted to go man :( So sad this year couldn't go.

Next year is a must go !!!


Biltong Cured Beef Fillet with Bone Marrow Dressing


55' Smoked Organic Egg




Apricot Paper, Pink Guava Sorbet, Raspberry Gelee 



Causa 


Hokkaido Scallop, Cod Brandade, Verjus, Scallion


Slow Cooked Beef 'Cottage Pie', Hot Smoked Potato



Cod with Egg of Quail



Credits -savour

Psy Gentleman

Psy's followup music video following Gangnam Style is coming up

After performing the song live for the first time at his ‘HAPPENING‘ concert, Psy has released the music video for his latest song “Gentleman”!

The MV received a lot of hype before its release for featuring the ‘Infinity Challenge‘ membersand Brown Eyed Girls‘ Ga In.

Watch out for them and the ‘butt dance‘ in the “Gentleman” MV below!

UNITED STATES NON FARM PAYROLLS

Non Farm Payrolls in the United States decreased to 88 Thousand in March of 2013 from 268 Thousand in February of 2013. Non Farm Payrolls in the United States is reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Historically, from 1939 until 2013, the United States Non Farm Payrolls averaged 118.09 Thousand reaching an all time high of 1114 Thousand in September of 1983 and a record low of -1966 Thousand in September of 1945. Nonfarm payrolls is an employment report released monthly, usually on the first Friday of every month, and heavily affects the US dollar, the bond market and the stock market. Current Employment Statistics (CES) program from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, surveys about 141,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 486,000 individual work sites, in order to provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls. This page includes a chart with historical data for the United States Non Farm Payrolls.

I think we are probably heading downhill........

Credits - trading economics

Friendship

Look at the friendship between these 2















Credits -yahoo

Stock Portfolio

Hi all, its been a long time since I blogged but I'm back!

To kick it off, I have decided to post my stock portfolio here chronologically. I have recently started trading because I thought why not ? It's about time for me to make my entrance into the stock markets.

Portfolio Breakdown (2013)

Red: Sold already
Blue: Still holding at the moment

Bought 2,000 Frasers Centrepoint Trust at $1.915. 
Sold 2,000 Frasers Centrepoint Trust at $2.04 (Received $100 in dividends)
Return: 9.14%

Bought 3,000 Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust at $1.025

Bought 20,000 Call Options on HSI with Strike Price 22,400 at $0.085
Sold 20,000 Call Options on HSI with Strike Price 22,400 at $0.100
Return: 17.65%

Bought 10,000 Call Options on HSI with Strike Price 22,600 at $0.072

Bought 20,000 Call Options on HSI with Strike Price 22,400 at $0.069

Bought 2,000 Guocoleisure at $0.875

Some Great Advice

Helping people isn't the enemy of productivity, it enhances it.

When most people get to work and see an inbox full of 300 unopened emails, they feel exasperated and put upon. The approach Grant takes, and advises, is to frame it differently. 

You don't get much done when thinking about "answering 300 emails." It's much easier when you think about how it will help the recipient.  So each time you send off an email, you feel good about yourself, and the work is of higher quality. 

It works better than putting energy and time into figuring out whom to ignore. Deciding whether or not to help out is often an unnecessary mental lag. Short favors cost little but pay off in the long run. 

Even a basic reminder of how an activity helps other vastly improves performance.

One of Grant's earliest studies was at a call center that looked for donations for scholarships. A 10-minute talk from a student to call center workers on how one of the scholarships had completely changed his life had an incredible impact on performance.

A month later, workers still used the same script, but were on the phone 142 percent longer and bringing in 171 percent more revenue. Even letters from grateful people significantly increased fundraising. 

The workers didn't specifically recognize this motivation, many actually discounted it, but the results speak for themselves, and held up after the study was repeated five times.

In a later study, Grant put up two different signs at a hand-washing station at a hospital. One focused on how doctors or nurses could catch diseases if they were lax. Another reminded them that patients could. The latter increased soap and hand sanitizer use by 45 percent. 

Credit -yahoo

Current Status

Hi guys,

Just a quick update to my personal life.

Currently, I'm a final year student at Nanyang Business School and I'm currently on exchange at Singapore Management University.



I must say the experience thus far has been really awesome. The first week has been pretty chill where all the Professor merely briefed us about the project outlines and course outlines to give us a sense of what we should expect in the course. Also, I managed to finish forming all my groups for all my modules and I must say I really enjoy the company of these group mates. I can already forsee that its going to be an awesome experience, genuinely.


Also, I'm currently interning in the Treasury department at Temasek Holdings. Its definitely exciting to work during school and in fact, this is the first time I'm doing this so I'm definitely looking forward to how I'm going to juggle effectively between school and work life. To be honest, never in a million years have I ever dreamt that I could get into such a prestigious organisation like Temasek Holdings. Its really another milestone in my life since my internship at American Express. But this just goes to show that I can go on to achieve great things if I try hard enough and that anything is possible with hard work.


There's always the debate saying that hard work can only bring you so far, but I am always very against that idea per se. I think hard work can bring you very far and consistent hard work can help achieve a breakthrough in your capacity. I strongly believe that if one is serious about working hard, he/she will succeed one day. It doesn't matter how long it takes, so long as you get there one day. You can't be impatient with these kind of things. You must be willing to endure the seemingly endless journey ahead and make yourself believe that you will make it at the end of the day.



I'm also working on my Final Year Project over at NTU. It seems to be flowing very smoothly and we already got the whole picture on what we are working on, so I think it should be fine at the moment :)


At the same time, I'm busy with full time interviews for my graduation job as well. Hopefully, I will be able to be offered a job soon so that I can focus on my other priorities :)


It seems like I have many things on my plate and I must say THERE REALLY IS !!!!!!


Having said that, I think its a challenge in my final year and I think if I survive through this, I will definitely be a lot, a lot, a lot stronger and I'm definitely looking forward to this challenging, yet rewarding experience up ahead.


On a side note, I just received notice that I got into the Dean's list for the 2nd year running!!! So I'm really happy about it. I'm really proud about it because I have really worked hard for it and to be able to receive this recognition is really a feeling like no other. But of course this is no time to be complacent, its my final year so I must give it my best shot as this will be the end of the first phase of my education life, before MBA that is. So yeah, that's about it for the updates, I will update again as I go through half of my semester at SMU :) Good Luck to everyone out there in whatever you do too :)


Cheers,

Aaron Bay Mingde