I Bought My First Laptop

It’s been about 5 years since I’ve upgraded my old computer and it finally came to the point where it didn’t even meet the minimum requirements for games anymore. I was originally planning to wait until around September to upgrade my computer to make sure that it would be able to play Spore and Starcraft 2 at high quality. I was going to budget around $1000 for the upgrade. Those were my intentions however my compulsive spending got the best of me and I ended up buying a P-6831FX laptop from Best Buy last Friday.

I was bored at work and surfing the internet when I stumbled on this review. It had everything I would have liked to get in the desktop upgrade and the CPU was easily accessible for an upgrade if I chose to do so in the future. I rationalized the purchase to myself by telling myself all the pros of getting a laptop versus a desktop. “It’s portable so you can take it with you”, “It uses less power so it’s better for the environment”, “Your current setup of using the LCD TV as a computer screen and sitting on the bed makes it hard to do anything on the computer for long”. Yes I kept feeding myself reasons why I should get it and then when I went to Best Buy’s website it was on sale for $100 off. I couldn’t resist; lo and behold I was $1250 plus tax lighter in the pocketbook but now I was also 9.2 lbs heavier from the laptop.

The laptop itself is very nice, a bit heavy but then I really don’t intend to carry it around with me all that much, it is a desktop replacement after all. It will make it easier to surf the internet and watch TV from bed though. The screen is nice and bright and the graphics card is a 512mb 8800M GTS so I know it will do a good job with Spore and Starcraft 2 when they come out. And man the speech recognition software on Vista is really fun to play with. It will take some time to train it to my voice and speech patterns. I will start using it to write future blog posts. All in all, I am happy with the purchase (it really is a great value as far as specs vs price) although there are a few things I would liked to have done instead.

First off I shouldn’t have been so impulsive on getting the thing, it didn’t fulfill a need. I didn’t need a new computer now and easily could have waited for either prices to drop or for newer tech to come out. It also took a big chunk of my time from Friday night and Saturday. I of course wanted to play with my new toy (uninstalling bloatware, transferring my files over, and installing my programs and games) and put off studying for my exam. So now I’m back to 0 days without an impulsive purchase. Yes I did buy the laptop on Friday and I’m writing this on Sunday (I bought the Olympus E510 from Amazon today) but that’s a story for another time.

Goals and Future Plans

I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels lately, like I’ve just been going through the motions of life and not really getting anywhere. When I get like this it helps to put down my goals and thoughts to sort everything out.

Goals for the Rest of the Year

First up, I plan on passing the CFA Level II exam this June. I signed up for a Weekly Study Course and I’m determined to finally pass this stupid thing this year. I may commit seppuku if I don’t pass.

After that there is a CAIA exam that I plan to take in September. The CAIA exams are easier than the CFA exams so a three month study period should be more than enough to pass. CAIA stands for Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, it’s the designation that’s used mainly for hedge funds.

After that I intend on studying for the GMAT to get started on applying to NYU for their MBA program in Quantitative Finance which is basically financial modeling. I probably should be taking this slower but in my own mind, I’m behind where I feel I should be so it’s time to bust my butt and catch up.

I’m also going to start listening to my Pimsleur language mp3s. I’m going to start learning Mandarin and Cantonese to get in touch with my dad’s culture and to prepare myself for one of my long term goals which I’ll talk about below.

Future Plans

As for my plans further out I’d like to be completely debt free by the end of the year. After that I’ll start saving money and investing again. I’d still like to be able to buy a place here in NYC although I do have plans to move sometime in the future.

I’d like to expand my horizons further and move to Singapore eventually. My thinking is China will eclipse the US eventually and I’d like to have a head start on working in that economy. It would also set my (future) kids up to have the best opportunity available to them, like what my parents did for me when they immigrated to the US. It will be a while before I move to Singapore but it’s definitely in the back of my mind and I’ve started to think about the logistics of it.

So those are my plans for the foreseeable future, what are yours?

Did You Miss Me?

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted but I’m still alive. Just drowning in video games and getting into the holiday spirit. Pretend this is a stream of consciousness piece of writing because my thoughts are going to be all over the place.

Video Games

So I was playing Halo 3 for the past month. I recently stopped to play Super Mario Galaxy. I’m beat the game yesterday and I’m finishing up the 120 stars the first time through. Next on the list is Rock Band. I was planning on going to the midnight launch at Best Buy tonight but I got an email from Amazon saying they shipped out Rock Band on Saturday. Get this, they shipped it out of Reno…. if I was still in Reno I could have driven to the Amazon warehouse to pick it up. I could be playing it right now although it would mean I’d still be in Reno.

Video Game Launches

One of the cool things about being in New York is the midnight video game launches I get to go to. So far I’ve attended the Halo 3 launch, and the Super Mario Galaxy launch. The Halo launch was huge and I got tons of free swag like t-shirts, stress balls, and a hat. The Mario launch was kind of a let down after going to the Halo 3 one but I got Super Mario Galaxy two days before the release date so that was pretty cool. Events like these never happened in Reno. One of the advantages of living in a big city.

New York

The city is starting to decorate for Christmas. The Tree at Rockefeller Center went up about two weeks ago and they’re currently decorating it. The lighting is the end of the month and I intend to go with camera in tow. I’m really getting into the Christmas spirit. I hated when it snowed in Reno but I’m really hoping it snows here. Just something about the city screams Christmas. I still can’t believe my friend Ryan lived here for a year and then decided to move back to Reno, I think he’s on crack. There’s way more to do here and that includes the women who are smarter and hotter than anything Reno could offer.

Thanksgiving

I can’t wait to have an actual Thanksgiving dinner. My family used to cook turkey when I was younger but lately they’ve given up on the cooking the turkey whole and have gone to turkey curry. Since my girlfriend and I won’t make it back to Reno until February to visit family we’re going to cook Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves. I can’t wait, turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, mmm… I’m drooling just thinking about it.