·:[ The (vast) Right Wing Conspiracy ]:·
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I knew it.

I knew from when the five finalists for Miss Universe 2005 were Misses Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, and Canada, that Miss Canada would win.

Why? A) Because there is no way that the selection panel would pick 4 Latin American women and then give one of them the award. The whole gesture of picking the four women paved the way to pick a non-Latin American woman as Miss Universe.

The second reason?

The New York Times ran an article (via Reuters) that talked about how often Latin American women win the award (more often than women from any other region of the world) and even noted that Misses Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic were favorites.

Miss Puerto Rico was second-place. I’m protesting.

I still think Puerto Rico produces the most beautiful women in the world.

Claudio

Today was my last day at Sam Ash.

I can pretty easily say that working there has changed me as a person, I think for the better. I definitely am a lot more patient then I was before working (crazy customers can do that to you). I can also atribute most of my changes to the people I’ve worked with. From listening to my woes, introducing my ears to new bands, and even giving me a place to sleep when I needed it, my coworkers have been amazing. I strongly believe I am a better person for having been in their presence.

Two days to go before the internship starts. What to do? I no longer have my home-away-from-school (considering I spend so little time in my real home) and I really have no plans other then getting as much sleep as possible. I think I will head into the City on Tuesday to check out the ships and take some pics, but other then that, I am officially on summer break for the next two days.

Thanks Sam Ash for paying me and thanks to Chris, Sue, Will, Rachael, Joe, Dee, Jarret, Steve J, Jarrod, Mandy, Irv, Tom, Jim, Danil, Jorge, Blue, Rob, Alison, Hanz, Jon, Pete, and most importantly Joe Card-1 for putting up with me for the past three years. You guys are amazing.

Well, if the French are going to be against freedom and independence for millions of Iraqis, they might as well be against freedom and independence for millions of Europeans, as well.

French Reject Europe’s First Constitution

Claudio

Just when I was about to write a good long post on how I supported Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.’s bid for US Senate when Majority Leader Frist leaves, his uncle had to go and get put under house arrest.

And that is just how these things go, often times. One Black man does something notable, and another Black man does something to detract from the positive impression - seemingly - just to remind America: [Chris Rock voice] We’ze always up ta no good!

Oh well. Maybe I’ll still write that Harold Ford piece at a later date. Right now, I’m too disgusted at his uncle’s actions to be nice.

Claudio

My friend Jon and I are starting a restaurant review blog tentatively called “In Our Bellies” or “Get It In Our Bellies” or something to that effect. We will be reviewing restaurants in the Long Island/New York City area, though we have been known to drive long distances in search of a well-recommended BBQ place or a new, unique eatery. This little project should be up and running in the next couple of weeks; I will of course post here when I register the domain and get the new site rolling.

This by no means signals my exit from TvRWC; it is just something we should have done a long time ago, and I think our friends are kind of sick of being the only ones forced to hear our culinary opinions every time we go out to dinner.

Just another fun summer project in the works…

Yes, all, please stand in awe. My girlfriend is featured in a great big color photo on the front page of the New York Times’ Metro Section!

She’s stunning, she’s a genius, and she’s oh so eloquent!:

Angela Francis, a Bronx Science graduate who is finishing her third year in the Honors College at City College, said that professors routinely e-mailed her saying, “Here’s a course you might be interested in.” And Deborah Wolf, a Stuyvesant graduate in the same program, said that she had edited a fiction anthology with one of her professors.

Okay, so she doens’t really “say” anything. They interviewed her for an hour, the least they could have done was get a direct quote up in that piece! The girl mentioned before her, Angela, is another really great and close friend of Pat, Debbie, and me (mine?). We’re spotted around campus so often (Debbie, Ang, and I) that we’re often called the three musketeers.

Oh, wait - is that me, Seth, and Tahmeed? Or Lev, David, and I? Or Aron, me, and…er, whatever. You get the picture.

Now get the article. Print it out; frame it; bask in the glory that is Debbie. But not too much. I will hunt you down and papercut you to death.

Here’s to more short periods of time in which the both of us are in the New York Times (the makings of a power couple).

Claudio

How do you know a country is getting to be fiscally and financially stable? Look no further:

The Trade Bank of Iraq on Tuesday issued the country’s first credit and debit cards, from Visa International Inc., at a ceremony in Baghdad.

Visa cards were given to cabinet ministers, government officials and financial professionals, the bank said. Bank Chairman Hussein al-Uzri presented the first card to Adel Abdul Mehdi, one of two vice presidents and a former finance minister.

The bank said it would issue 30,000 Visa cards in Iraq by the end of the year. The company also plans to install the country’s first network of automated teller machines, which would enable cardholders to withdraw Iraqi dinars or U.S. dollars from their accounts.

The Trade Bank of Iraq is a state-owned bank founded in 2003 to facilitate Iraq’s international trade. It is capitalized at $100 million and has issued 1,537 letters of credit worth $5.7 billion since its establishment, the bank said.

First come the credit cards, then the big mortgages, loans, etc. The Iraqi Stock Market is also up, running, and expanding and improving.

I think my (upcoming) senior thesis on microlending/microfinance in developing democracies might just turn into a case study of the Iraqi and growing Eastern European economies, which is really what I want to focus on anyway…

I saw an ABC news piece on this brutal double homicide in Queens last week where the suspect was an ex-boyfriend and dismissed it as another in a long line of anger/depression/rage killings. Apparently there was a twist that led the boys in blue (the NYPD, for those not in NYC) to the killer:

A doomed Queens man’s chilling computer entry led cops to a suspect who allegedly robbed and killed the victim and his sister to finance a return to China, police said yesterday.

Jin Lin, 23, was charged with first-degree murder yesterday in the bloody slayings of Sharon and Simon Ng in their Kew Gardens Hills apartment Thursday, officials said.

Cops zeroed in on Lin, who once dated the woman, because Ng typed a journal entry into his computer fingering his sister’s ex-boyfriend as the suspect, police said.

“He wrote that he was wondering why Lin was there and wished he would leave,” said Police Officer Jennara Everleth, an NYPD spokeswoman.

You can actually read Simon Ng’s last blog entry right here, as it is still online. He was also a fellow CUNY student, attending Queens College. I guess blogs do have some kind of practical use after all….

Philosophy of Class and Gender: It’s okay to be gay! And it’s also okay to drop a class when you have a prof that won’t accept anything late! STATUS: DROPPED.

Philosophy of Good and Evil: When you’re the only Republican, the only Christian, and the only moral absolutist in the class, you opinion is much needed! No wonder the teacher didn’t want to let me drop the class. STATUS: DROPPED.

United States Society: History is boring, the labs were a bit better, but the only thing that saved this class for me was the fact that I had my girlfriend next to me th entire time. Forced someone to listen to and (perhaps) laugh at my witty unending commentary. STATUS: WORKING ON FINAL.

World Politics: Reinforced my belief that all City College’s international politics profs are teaching the exact same course with different names. But hey, you can never learn too much about the Treaty of Westphalia now, can you? STATUS: STILL WORKING ON FINAL.

Narcotics and Literature: Lacan and Freud say make drugs legal! Especially since Hunter S. Thompson died (read: blew his brains out while, most likely, high on something/everything). Fun class, lots of work, the final is gonna stink. STATUS: STILL WORKING ON FINAL.

Critical Theory: By far the best class this semester. Amazing prof (if you are at Brooklyn College, track down Prof. Bayoumi) and even better texts (ever tried to write a dialogue between Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and Benjamin while they sit in a Starbucks in the village? Nietzsche to Freud: “You’ve got to get laid, bro!“) and tests. Had a lot of fun, definitely learned a bunch. Also the token Republican/Christian/moral absolutist/capitalist. Oh well, what were we to expect? STATUS: STILL WORKING ON FINAL.

Other lessons: Don’t try to take six classes on three campuses and work 20 hours a week, too. Meltdown in the making. Oxford wants to be Harvard. Everyone wants to be Yale Law. Ex-Baptists prefer unisex bathrooms. Little Caesar’s public bathroom will never be the same. Getting the Truman is a big deal (see the newspapers!). But not big enough to get your name spelled or pronounced correctly (see the newspapers; Chancellor Goldstein’s speeches).

Oh, and the last and most lesson I learned this semester? If you don’t post on the blog, people won’t visit the blog.

Well, I’m getting ready for Europe this summer. I leave next Wednesday. Here’s to hoping I can blog regularly there.

Claudio

I probably should’ve done this for the past eight semesters, but its better late then never…

The First BiAnnual “What Did I Learn This Semester?” Post Extravaganza!

Here goes:

ECO294 - Computed Aided Statistical Analysis: I learned how to do regression and correlation analysis on data sets. Of course, those regressions and correlations were done using a program that costs more then a car to get a licenses for, so I will obviously be using it at home a lot. Truthfully, I learned a lot more in this class then I thought I would. I finally understand all of those formulas and nonsense we learned in Statistics and it was great to actually be able to look at data and find some meaning to it, instead of just talking about standard deviation and the correlation coefficient as if they matter in the real world.

PHIL30001 - The Rational Animal: No matter how many classes you miss (and despite the warnings in the syllabus), you can still pull and A-! Wait, I did actually learn something though….I hate Descartes. A whole bunch.

ECO330 - Marketing: Group projects suck. I say “um” a lot when I speak in front of groups of people (I only learned this because I was the only person in my group to ever present anything to the class). Did I mention group projects suck? I liked this class though, lots of practical knowledge picked up.

ECO271 - Corporate Finance: First off all I learned how to actually operate my financial calculator, so at least is no longer just an expensive paperweight. I learned that I may want to eventually sit for the CFA exam in a few years. I also (finally) learned what all those numbers used to describe bond prices in the newspaper mean. I guess I learned a lot.

ECO3220 - Money, Banking, and Monetary Policy: I believe this is the class in which I learned the most. I finally understand what the Federal Reserve does and why the Chairman of the Fed is really the most powerful person in the US (and maybe even the world). I learned all about inflation and hyperinflation and why those are both really undesirable, and exactly how the Fed combats them. I was a little apprehensive about this class, mainly because of the professor, but it all came out OK. Great professor, he seemed to know everything and anything about monetary policy and macroeconomics.

My Money, Banking, and MP professor also recommended this great book that I actually just finished, Freakonomics. More on that later, but definitely pick it up ASAP.

So there’s my semester in review. So far I have received two grades, and A in Comp. Aided Stat. Anal. and the aforementioned A- in Philo-torture.

I am just going to relax this week, clean my room, get a haircut, say my goodbyes at the Ash, and get ready for the start of internship-festivities on 6/1.

Just because I need a place to write it down…
Tentative Fall Schedule:
Monday/Wednesday: Investments (at Baruch), Science: The Natural Man (Honors College requirement, “science for poets”), Jazz History 2 (from WW2 to the present…definitely not my favorite period of jazz at all), and Elements of Calculus (calc for eco majors, not the ridiculously hard calc for engineers/architects I’ve been put in twice)

Tuesday/Thursday: Macroeconomics, Microeconomics.

20 credits, 6 classes, all required. Sleep? Not happening.

Blogging to resume this week.