Ready to Rock'n Roll

In another 20 minutes I'm gonna head out and take the bus to Taipei 101

Not for another interview this time.

Today, July 1st, 2008 is officially the first day I start work at McKinsey & Company as

a summer business analyst.

Feeling kinda anxious, but very excited right now ~ I know what challenge lies ahead, but it is

bound to be one of the most rewarding summers ever!

Let's go!

Morning!? Night?

I woke up at 5:30am in NCU this morning to catch the bus back to NTU. Turning on my laptop, I saw Jill, a classmate of mine who interns at Morgan Stanley IB for the summer, was online. So I popped her a message:

danny: hey, morning!

Jill: .... night....

danny: no way~~~

Jill: I just came back from the office....

danny: and when do u have to go back?

Jill: in another 3 hours....Orz

Gosh, so what they tell us about the 20hr. workday of investment banking is real after all.... wonder what a day at McKinsey's gonna be like?

Sagittarius 射手座

射手座終極分析

樂觀與憂愁：射手座人的內心不是外表看上去那麼樂觀的，因為喜歡看的遠，容易擔憂的
事情也就多，在他們的字典裡，即使現在好，也不一定代表未來好，有時候很多人覺得很
好的一個工作或一個伴侶，他們很輕易的就會放棄掉，可能只是因為一個毫不起眼的小原
因。所以，這樣的外在表現，就讓人們覺得他們不喜歡被某件事情或某個人束縛住，追求
自由的，沒有壓力的感覺。


現實：常說射手座是追求夢想的人，但往往忽略了他們現實的一面，算計起來不會比處女
座差哦，只是更高明更隱藏罷了。射手座人的夢想是必須建立在現實的基礎上的，一般他
們很少談及自己的夢想，而是實際的去做一些向夢想靠攏的事情。如果可以借巧力完成的
事情，決不會多花一點工夫。所以有時候射手座也容易給人耍小聰明的感覺。可是，不得
不承認他們完成的還滿不錯。也許終其一生，他們都在考慮怎麼巧妙的做一些事情，花最
少的精力去達到最好的效果。所以，很多射手座看上去讓人們會覺得很懶，但是其實他們
的大腦可沒有停下過思考現實的事情。


拒絕低俗：幾乎所有的射手座內心都是驕傲的，其程度絕不亞於獅子座。只不過他們不會
顯現在臉上，外在的表現總是隨和的，恰當的。可是內在有著極強的自尊心，敏感也情緒
化。因為射手座人心中是驕傲的，所以他們拒絕低俗，不喜歡任何俗氣的、粗魯的事或人
。如果可以，他們希望一切有關的事物，都是優雅的、高尚的，值得品味的。而真正能讓
他們覺得值得交朋友或談戀愛的人是很少的，雖然表面上他們是很隨和的。

多情：很多人說射手座多情，尤其是男性。其實在射手座人的心目中，對於愛情確實有理
想化的傾向，和他們談戀愛，是一件高難度的事情。他們非常討厭俗氣的人，所以你不能
很物質或喜歡談錢，但是他們又很現實，所以你不能一文不名，各方面也必須有一定的實
力。物質與精神，你必須平衡的剛剛好，才讓他們覺得你值得去愛。或者，你有足夠的神
秘感，可以讓他們不知道你的缺點在哪裡，而盲目的愛你。一般，當然是沒有完美無缺的
人的，所以，可能像金牛座這樣永遠會讓射手感覺捉摸不透的悶悶的人，會非常吸引他們
；或者象雙子那樣，足夠機智，懂得察言觀色，捕捉他們的情緒，才會讓他們感覺到愛情
的甜蜜。一般射手的感情模式是，第一階段，你們還不熟悉，他（她）愛上了你，非常熱
情。第二階段，你們逐漸熟悉，而他（她）開始龜毛，整天挑剔你的毛病，無論是背地裡
還是當面。如果你有幸通過他（她）的挑剔過程，基本挑剔出的毛病為零或者你把缺點保
密的非常好；那麼進入第三階段，他們就又是忠誠和熱情的愛人了。但是基本能通過第二
階段的人非常少，所以有了射手多情一說。其實射手對戀人的挑剔，是源於對愛情的挑剔
，對喪失自由感的恐懼。


射手座人的人生，往往是幸運的，因為他們是聰慧的、明朗的、通透的。與眾不同，也許
是他們終生追求的夢想，希望每一個射手人，可以找到他們的夢想！

　　人人都說射手座是感情的騙子，對愛情不尊重，只追求片刻的快感，是花心與沖滿慾
望的象徵。朋友們…你們瞭解射手座最真實的一面嗎？
射手座是大孩子，天真與善良，遇到愛情時，可能讓人感覺不認真，付出的比誰都少。可
是，知道嗎？射手座很想愛，卻也很怕愛！剛開始他們只是慢慢的付出，謹慎的愛，好怕
自己會受傷。可是在一句一句的愛，一天一天的相處下，射手座把帶刺的防備丟掉，開始
不顧一切的去愛他們所愛的人，在別人眼中，只是射手座為了達到某種目的而作的行動。
可射手座不介意，他會在自己幸福的想像中陶醉，希望對方能感受自己的愛，想對方覺得
與自己一齊是幸福的。
在射手座愛上了一個人，他會把自己放到最後。有苦自己承擔，可能會因為吵了一場小架
而不開心，卻也是最快認錯，無論誰的錯，他們都會包容，知道嗎？射手座會因為深愛一
個人而原諒他的背叛，會因為你的一句話付出很多。他們愛玩，在玩的同時，也希望把那
一份好心情帶給你，射手座是樂觀的。
　
人們總覺得射手座的世界很快樂，可是呢？射手座難過時沒有人知道，他不想讓別人
可憐自己，射手座不堅強，可是很善良。在你難過時哄你開心，讓你有依靠，分手後，他
會哭者去想屬於你們倆幸福的回憶，也不想愛的人因為同情而勉強和他一齊。他比誰都希
望自己愛的人快樂幸福，卻常常忽略了自己，全身都是傷也笑著告訴你，我很好不用擔心
。
　　在所有人看到他的笑容以為他沒事，卻不知道失戀對射手座有多大傷害，華麗的外表
下有一顆脆弱的需要別人瞭解和安慰的心。知道嘛？你的一點關心，心思細膩的射手座會
記得你對他的好，把自己的愛毫無保留的送給你，射手座是不被瞭解的，可他們不會怨誰
。他們會傻傻的認為，讓我承擔吧，別讓別人也受到傷害。所以，不要讓快樂的射手座痛
苦，別讓他們最有魅力的笑容成為掩飾痛苦的偽裝，認真愛射手座。你會知道射手座的愛
，是充滿淚水的…

The Dream Computer

I've realized there are several things I really want to learn other than having an exciting career:

1. Pickup violin or guitar again

2. Practice photography - with the professional cameras

3. Practice filming video

4. Photo/Video editing, movie making (personal movies)

5. This is farfetched - fly an airplane

6. Travel the world, cruising.

I also happened to come across a dream computer, that will provide all the calculating power to use Apple's Final Cut Studio, and the Adobe Creative Suite 3:

Mac Pro:

CPU: 2x Intel Xeon Harpertown Quad Core processors 2.8GHz each

Hard Drive: 2 Terabytes 5,400 RPM

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra 512 MB

RAM: 4x 1GB Quad Channel ECC RAM for Mac Pro

External Drive: eSATA 3 Gb/s 2 Terabyte External Drive

All of this, would cost around .... let's put it at 200,000 NT

Man, better work hard this summer and get that offer!

HDVC at McKinsey Taipei Office

It's not even a week since returning from the mini-BCR in HK, got an email from the McKinsey Professional Development team based in Shanghai, notifying us of a HDVC, or High Definition Video Conference for today. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the staffing and PD team to us Summer BAs and Summer Associates.

So, it was a very nice Wednesday, finally the rain that has been seriously pissing me off for the past week has stopped today. There wasn't much sun, but as long as there's no rain, I'm very happy and content. After spending the morning reading the 'McKinsey's Marvin Bower', a book on how the firm first got started, its vision and other interesting anecdotes, it is a good read. Near noon, had to rush to Mgmt Building 1 for a meaningless Service III Interview. It was a complete waste of time and resources, I was in the room at 13:00, she asked me one question 'what did u do in World Vision Taiwan?', I replied, 'Translating' - and that was it, I was out of the room by 13:01 and soon on a 650 bus headed for McKinsey's Taipei office at 101 building.

I was actually the first to arrive (I think San was already in the office, since he's already on board and started work this Monday). Tiffany came a while later. San led us to the video conference room where the meeting would be held. As we wined down the corridors past that locked door, it's the first time I realize how big Taipei office really is. I used to think it was a very very tiny office, but apparently the last time I was here I'd only saw the point where the corridor took a turn. There are so many other rooms past that turn, another snack bar with cookies and drinks (where I grabbed something for lunch). 

The HDVC room itself is very much like the interview room where we'd all undergone the rigorous selection process. With the exception there are two huge flatscreen plasma TVs mounted to the wall, and a rotating camera positioned on top. At 2pm, the screen came alive and we could see the staffing and PD team in Shaghai on one screen, and ourselves on the other. This system is newly installed in TPO, and the broadband connection offered almost no-lagging real time video conference quality! 

After initial introductions, we were told what is expected of the Summer Associates and Summer BAs, what we should focus on during our program, how to be successful during our first engagement and ultimately to clinch the full time offer by the end of the program. It was a novel experience for me and Tiffany to use this kind of video conferencing, and after the meeting, it only deepened my impression how much emphasis they place on this summer program. It is definitely far more than an ordinary internship, we are really the potential pool of talent that they hope future BAs or Associates will come from. Looking at the listed criteria, it's gonna be an very exciting summer (nevertheless a daunting challenge), I can't wait to get over with all my finals and start work at McKinsey!!!!!

A Goddess Stepped Down from Mt. Olympus

That's how they described her - A Goddess Stepped Down from Mt. Olympus

Anne Sophie Mutter, one of the world-renown master violinists. 

Went to her live performance with the Trondheim Soloists at National Music Hall with Annie Sunday night. She performed some Bartok pieces, some concertos by J.S. Bach, and the very famous Four Seasons Concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. 

I'd heard of many different versions of Four Seasons (though I'd never stayed in the hotel with the same name ~ XD), but Mutter's interpretation was by far the most elegant and flowing experience! It's such a treat to listen to her play, I don't know how to describe it, but it's just an absolutely amazing experience. Another thing I'd found quite amusing was near the end, when Mutter was doing encore pieces, everytime she finishes one, she has to walk off the stage while the entire audience applauds and come back, then off and again - 3 times for each encore piece!! I did a simple tally, she'd walked on and off stage approximately 21 times during the entire performance! Now that is some workout! When she concluded her final encore piece, the audience gave her standing ovation as she led the other musicians off stage.

After the show, me and Annie waited in line for almost an hour to get her autograph! She looked a lot more 'aged' up close in person, but nonetheless she is really patient, signing her full name for each and everyone who waited in line, that must've been over 500 people!!!

It's been a really long time since I was last in the National Music Hall (Well, not really, was here last time for Annie's performance), it's such a enjoyable experience to relax and listen to great classical music. Though I know I probably shouldn't be saying this at all.... but, Annie is cute, really ~ it was a great night. 

McKinsey Asia BCR 2008 Day 3

I usually need up to 8 hours of sleep to feel fully refreshed. Don't know if its the excellent hotel or simply adrenaline rush that got me out of bed at 6:30am this morning, despite going to bed at almost 2am. Quick shower, then double checked everything in my luggage, said goodbye to my room of two days, took one last look out the huge window overlooking Victoria Harbor before heading downstairs to check out at the front desk.

Breakfast was the delicious buffet as usual, then me, Tiffany and San - a Summer associate staffed to TPO, we three took a taxi to Hong Kong MTR station to check in our luggage and get our boarding passes. The taxi in Hong Kong, amazingly, is cheaper than Taipei! Anyways, at the MTR station, we bought our Airport Express tickets and soon had our hands free of luggage. This in-town check in service really convenient business travelers and tourists alike. Combined with all the top notch hotels and the easy-to-get SIM card service, Hong Kong has really shaped itself along all the needs of a time efficient business traveler, no wonder it had become one of the biggest financial centers of the world.

Training was very much similar to yesterday. This trip to Hong Kong had been awesome, and full of surprises. The only bad little thing that happened was somehow, my iPhone bricked itself again when I was trying to connect to wifi in the conference room. Despite being quite seasoned at dealing with bricked iPhones, I was still very pissed off - the iPhone's instability made it not the idea handset for business purposes, despite its user friendly interface and whooping graphics. Had to restore it using iTunes and then iJailbreak for the unlock. It didn't take a long time to get it back to a functional state, but all the other 3rd party apps are gone, so are my photos (thankfully, uploaded those to iPhoto the night before). Now my iPhone can make and receive calls, send SMS, take pictures, listen to music, that's about it - the fancy maps, games and gadgets are gone, at least for the moment.

It was raining quite hard in HK for the entire day, fortunately we were all in a very nice room with air conditioning and all. The training concluded at around 5:30 with group pictures being taken, and we actually started a facebook group called 'McKinsey Asia Summers 2008' right there and then! It was really great to know so many outstanding people, even though we'd all be in various offices scattered across GCO and Singapore, I really hope this network we built in the past two days will continue to keep in touch. Anyways, after we all said our goodbyes, me, San and Tiffany hailed a cab and took the Airport Express to HKG International Airport for our evening flight back to Taipei.

Did some last minute shopping at the terminal, bought a couple of Starbucks tumblers for my girlfriend and myself. The flight tookoff amidst the rain, and the 1 hr. 20 minute flight went by really fast. Other than the kind-of-violent turbulence during the descent (which was quite scary, knowing we're already getting closer and closer to the ground as is), the flight was smooth and the food enjoyable (I'd always liked airplane food for starters). The plane actually touched down at about 10pm, got our luggage and cleared customs in another 15 minutes. As we walked out into the arrivals lobby, to our left hand side were three drivers dressed in shirt and tie holding signs that read 'McKinsey & Co.' and our names under that! It's the first time to have official pickup service at the airport, we're all (well at least I definitely am) very excited as we're being led to our respective Benz vehicles. 

The drive back to Taipei was smooth, despite feeling a little tired, I was chatting with the driver for almost the entire drive. From my own rough estimation, the firm spent almost 50,000 NT on each of us to send us to the training in HK !!!! That is some hefty investment in undergrad and summer interns! 

After this initial exposure to business traveling, I'm so much more passionate about consulting as a career, and definitely looking forward to this summer's work! It's gonna take a while for me to readjust back into 'student mode' after the past two days of luxury travel and a taste of what being a consultant is like. The accommodations are really nice, but I'm sure the kind of contribution and effort they expect from us goes hand in hand ~ better gear myself to work really hard this summer, cuz I know I'd love a career as a consulting, and working for McKinsey have always been one of my dreams!

McKinsey Asia BCR 2008 Day 2

The bed at Grand Hyatt is very very comfortable. 5 hours after falling asleep at 1am this morning, my alarm went off and I, again reluctantly, dragged myself out of bed to start the day.

A quick shower in the beautiful marble bathroom had me fully refreshed. Dressed in a shirt and black trouser, took the elevator down to meet Tiffany in the lobby. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, where there's delicious buffet with lots of bread, danishes, fruits, sausage, bacon, fish, and also fully customizable omlet making service! The food taste great, taking a deep breath and looking around me - all I see is business people, some reading the newspaper, others typing away on their laptops or blackberries ~ another busy day in the financial center is about to begin.

The breakfast is very satisfying, not to mention expensive - it cost almost 1,100 NT for one, and it's just breakfast! Thankfully we have that charged to our account as well. At 8:30, we hailed a cab and instructed the driver to take us to Cheung Kong center, where McKinsey's HK office is located on the 25th floor. The design of the office is clean and efficient just like Taipei, except the wall behind the reception desk where the company logo is displayed was white rather than the blue in Taipei. Hong Kong office appear larger than Taipei, we were led into the largest conference room - the Tang room, where many others are already there busyily 'networking'.

Apparently, this event is called 'McKinsey Summer Associates mini-BCR', so us summer BAs sort of got to tag along and receive some rudimentary training as well. There are 14 participants plus one McKinsey engagement manager by the name of Brian joining us. Out of the 14, 10 are summer associates (two are staffed for TPO), all of the associates, whether they applied to TPO or BJO or SHO, they are all studying for a MBA degree in a US university. There are three guys from Wharton, one from Harvard, one from MIT, others include Darton, UNC Charlotte, Cornell, Duke... all are schools that would've ranked in the top 20 list of B-schools! Spent the next 10 minutes introducing ourselves to one another, shaking hands and trying to remember their names - hmm.... San, David, Nick, Julladaa, Maddy, Linda, Margaret, Henry, Geoffrey.... all brilliant, outstanding people!

The training session started soon thereafter. I'm not going to go into details what we learned during the program. Basically, it's the 7-step problem solving method of McKinsey, from identifying the problem to issue and hypothesis trees to storylining and finally presentation. The most valuable part is we get to practice in numerous exercises to see how these problem solving methods actually work. What's more, we can ask any questions we have about McKinsey or the summer work ~ a great time to get to know the firm better!!!

The weather in Hong Kong wasn't delightful at all, dark murky clouds loomed over head, scattering occasional rainshowers and intermittent thunderstorms. The air outside was damp and warm with moisture. Spent the bulk of the day listening to presentations and undergoing exercises inside the conference room at McKinsey. At 6:30, the end of today's program, Brain led the group to a bar on top of the LandMark building, called - Zuma. It was a Japanese themed bar, and we are free to order any drinks we'd like. I had a grey goose martini, which at first I thought was quite light, until the strong effects kicked in minutes later (I thoroughly enjoyed that), and a passion bellini, finally ended today's round with a bottle of sakke. I don't really like sakke at all, it tasted similar to whiskey, much lighter, doesn't feel very good swallowing it, and I guess it is no where as strong as whiskey. After the rounds of drinks, the rest of my 'colleagues' - as I should now refer to them - are heading off for dinner, I called up Laibond and we agreed on a pickup place.

Soon after I arrived to the 'rendezvous' point, a silver Mercedes Benz drove in and Laibond signaled me to get in. He was in the car with his girlfriend, Denise. The car was really nice, and I'm so glad to see him again. He took me to his family burger joint called Duke's burgers located on Staunton Street in SOHO. At first I was expected something similar to Bongos burger back in NTU, but when I walked into the joint, I knew what I'm about to get is far better than Bongos. The joint is very well designed, small, but almost filled with people. I ordered a roast ribs with truffles and foie gras ~ a very expensive combination but very very delicious. Even though I resisted eating any internal organs in the past, foie gras actually tasted very good with the roast rib burger! The side dishes were really good too, it's the first time I'd had corn hash browns, marinated potato tots, alongside with the delicious gourmet burger! Thanks to Laibond, we had a wonderful meal, and talked a whole lot to catch up on everything since we said goodbye in Beijing last November. Apparently, there are 5 people from FACES affiliated with McKinsey, 3 of them working full time as BAs and 2, including myself, will be summer BAs this summer! It feels great to meet up with a friend in Hong Kong in such an occasion, its the first time I appreciated the network FACES helped to create, and amazingly maintain! I told Laibond he must come to Taipei sometime this year, though I don't own a restaurant, but I promise I'd find someplace good to take him! He drove me back to Grand Hyatt at around 10pm, ending today's episode of adventure.

With the tasty gourmet burger almost fully digested, I had another plan before calling it a day. Two weeks ago I'd bought a half year of membership at the NTU gym to work out and get in shape for the graduation trip to Bali this September. I'd been frequenting the gym for the past weeks, and I'm not about to let that habit go to waste here in Hong Kong. Tiffany is still strolling the city with her UCLA friends, so I got into my jumpers and sneakers and headed down to the hotel gym on the 11th floor. The treadmill here is very good, a 13-inch tv embedded right in front of you - where I enjoyed the first quarter of the Celtics vs. Pistons game while jogging my routing 2.5 kilometers - before starting other weight training. Most of the functions I'd done in NTU can be found here, despite sometimes in different types of equipment. I think the machines here are better than those at NTU, it seems to flex your muscles in a more effective way - but what can I say, it sure doesn't cost ten thousand dollars to stay at NTU, or visit the gym. 

Fully worked out and sweaty, took a nice long shower in my room. Checked email, packed my luggage for tomorrow and finally dropped down on the amazingly comfortable bed, falling asleep very fast, and sound.