pattiez's blog

Change 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:30:00 +0000

january: $4.00
february: $4.94
march-may14th: $6.19
rest of may: $0.89
june-mid july: $8.19
rest of july & aug: $7.99

Finances 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:07:00 +0000

Okay, so I wasn't too diligent in keeping track of my finances last year. I did in terms of banking and how much I spent; but I didn't keep track where the money was going. Near the end of the year, I noticed it was mainly going towards food... and I have a belly to show for it. *glares at scale*

Financial Goal 2011:
i. eat out at most twice a week
ii. coffee 3 times max a week
iii. use cash, not credit when possible

I will continue to...
i. only buy things I need when they're on sale (clothing, makeup, etc)
ii. coupon stack! ...very "si-lai" but how could you beat $1 shampoo! =P
iii. research before purchase (text books, etc)
iv. keep track of my monthly spending

Change vii & viii

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:34:00 +0000

March: $3.04*
April: $10.07
May: $7.02
June: $10.69
July: $11.53
August & September: $13.79
October: $6.50
November: $7.37
December: $10.69
2010: $80.70

*In March I only put away pennies, nickels, and dimes; April onwards, I included quarters.

Entertainment '10: conclusion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 01:42:00 +0000

So I attempted to track my "entertainment spending" in 2010. It was pretty good, but I stopped keeping track after August. It slipped my mind and I'm a tad disappointed.

My goal was to spend less than $350, but that didn't happen. From January to August 2010 alone, I spent about $690. Oops? I suppose going to a concert didn't help.

Am I going to do the same for 2011? I think I'm going to try. It's nice to reflect on what I've watched in any given year. Plus, I like seeing how I allocate my money.

...must be more strict in my budget. End of 2010 Financial post coming up!

.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:49:00 +0000

I got the job =)

December 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:04:00 +0000

My "life" in a (chest)nut shell.

December
01 IMC w/ CK; meeting w/ Victoria; CTS "Hockey Night"
02 interview; CTS: Leonard Cohen
03 date w/ EL; SMA Christmas Dinner
04 YWiB Bold Ambitions

05 CTS: vs Blues
06 CMNS 322 A#3 due
07 CTS: Andre Rieu
08 CTS: vs Ducks
09
10 CMNS 387 A#2 due; CTS: Roger Waters
11 CTS: vs Lightning

12
13 CMNS 322 Final due
14 CTS: Eason Chan
15 CTS: vs Blue Jackets
16 CTS: Carrie Underwood
17
18 CTS: vs Maple Leafs

19
20 trip
21 trip
22 trip; special family dinner
23 CTS: Jay Chou
24
25 Christmas

26 CTS: vs Oilers
27 special family dinner
28 CTS: vs Flyers
29 LNO
30
31

Brr!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:56:00 +0000

Stuck at home working on two term papers. That's exactly how everyone wants to spend their weekend!

Anyway, I've been abnormally addicted to caffeine lately. Addicted to the point where it has no affect on me. Wait... so does that count as addicted? I'm not sure.

Rather than head out to take advantage of McDonald's last day of free coffee, or head to Starbucks/Waves/Blenz for some fancy caffeinated drink, I decided to stick with the instant stuff. They're not the same, but exponentially cheaper.

Pattie's "Poor Student" Mocha
2 spoonfuls of instant espresso
1.5 spoonfuls of instant chocolate milk powder*
a bit of boiled water
1.75 cups of milk

1. microwave milk to desired temperature
2. mix the espresso and chocolate milk powder together in your favourite holiday mug
3. add enough water to liquefy the powder mixture
4. add milk

*replace with melted chocolate if you can afford it

Ta da!

Just Maybe...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 21:05:00 +0000

I am passionate about two things in life: finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis and event planning.

Next week I will be setting up an interview for a contract position that ties the two together. Am I excited? Very!

...will keep everyone updated. Now onto my term papers!

Update 11.10

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:25:00 +0000

I've been neglecting this blog for far too long. Come to think about it, I've been neglecting me. Too often have I been going back and forth from meeting to meeting. Sure, it builds my portfolio, but do the benefits weigh out the effort?

Yes and no.

I've learned a lot, but I've lost a lot. I miss hanging out with my family. I miss the Sunday morning dim sum time with my parents. I see my partners in crime, Helen and Carson, more than I see my parents--and I live with my parents! This experience has taught me a lot. It's helped me confirm what I'm passionate about. And most importantly, I've strengthened my people management skills.

Some highlights:

IMC OC Photoshoot

Amazing bonding experience. Huge thank you to our amazing photographer, Theresa.

YWiB SFU Project GIVE (Generating Innovative Visions of Entrepreneurship)

So proud of Katie P and Steph for launching this unique program. Amazing speakers!

YWiB SFU Wine Tasting Event

Hosted by Society and Richard Goodine. Photography props to www.604foodtography.com

IMC Fundraiser: Gloop Show

Our messy, but fun fundraiser.

And no pictures yet... but YWiB SFU SOUL (Supporting Our University Leaders) Workshop and Orientation. This program has been the most challenging thing I've ever taken on, but it has been the most rewarding so far. I can't wait to see how every mentee develop professionally and personally. Eight more months to go! =)

YWiB SOUL and IMC are my babies. I sleep and dream about them. <3

Change iv

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0000

March: $3.04*
April: $10.07
May: $7.02
June: $10.69
July: $11.53
August & September: $13.79
October: $6.50

*In March I only put away pennies, nickels, and dimes; April onwards, I included quarters.

CMNS 387: Myth and Media

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:23:00 +0000

Week 1

The assigned screening was Troy. I probably shouldn't have watched it prior to sleeping. Bad bad bad idea. The reading for the week is to read Myths of the Ancient Greeks... all 321 pages.

And yes, although all this was supposed to be done prior to the first class, I started after.

Rebel.

Finally! -oops

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:17:00 +0000

I made a big boo boo in my last post.

I included my fourth year in the calculation. If I move out, it'll be before my fifth year starts, so I should only look at fifth year. So... co-op tuition is $665.40/semester. Tuition for 12 credits is $1926. (1926 * 1)+(665.40 * 2) = $3256.80.

So... from $7100 to $7774, it goes down to... $3256.80. A big less scary. =)

Finally!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:26:00 +0000

So it's finally going to happen. One more year until I move out.

...provided that my parents aren't going to refuse to pay my tuition if I do leave home.

What if they do? This semester costs $2197.54 excluding books. Assuming that most of my readings are from journals that are accessible online or from SFU library... $2400 per semester? $2400 x 3 = $7200. Then there's co-op: $800.85/semester. Two co-ops would cost me $1601.70, and three would be $2402.55. So that's $8801.7 or $9602.55.

But then again, I already pay for everything but the tuition itself.
Co-op tuition is $665.40/semester. Tuition for 12 credits is $1926. (1926 * 3)+(665.40 * 2) = $7108.80. or $7774.20 for three co-op terms.

So... if my parents refuse to pay for tuition if I move out, I'll need to save $7100 to $7774 more. Ack.

But anyway... I'm pretty excited for it. No more yearly trips though. And less going out for food. But I need to get out of this protective shell. I'm pretty independent, but my parents still baby me. I want to grow up =( I need more life skills!

Life

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:48:00 +0000

...is good =)

Some things have changed, but I think it's for the good. I've had a conversation with Kay and I suppose what I did was the best way to do it. When I "reply all" to the lunch crew meet up email, I just took his email out. Hopefully next time people will copy and past the emails from there and not send it to him anymore. Subtle? I hope so.

So there, you people who read my blog know too.

Change iii

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:12:00 +0000

So for June, I continued to take out all my change almost daily. I usually don't dig through my change and this way it helps my wallet stay light. Maybe at the end of the year I'll treat myself to something nice. Spa day anyone?

March: $3.04*
April: $10.07
May: $7.02
June: $10.69

*In March I only put away pennies, nickels, and dimes; April onwards, I included quarters.

And So It Begins...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:41:00 +0000

I just had a 3.75 hour meeting today for IMC. This week, I was in meetings for 7.25 hours. Thankfully they were very productive.

I can do it!

Next week will be intense. I'm actually looking forward to it. =)

Now, should I bother making dinner or just have a big breakfast. Hmm...

The Next 9 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:25:00 +0000

I have two babies that will be born in 9 months... from different partners: YWiB SOUL and IMC.

I think if I can balance good grades at school, create a successful SOUL program, have a well acknowledged IMC, keep a steady social life, maintain a healthy relationship with the family, and have "me" time, then I can do anything in life. Confident? Maybe. Ambitious? A tad too much. But the big question is, can I actually do all that without any breakdowns?

Only time can tell. Check up on me in 9/10 months.

(By the way, if anyone can purchase Starbucks Double Shot on discount, please help me buy a case.)

Busier?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:04:00 +0000

I am officially the Chair for SFU's Inter-collegiate Marketing Competition.

Yay =)

...what did I get myself into

Ramble & YWiB All Retreat

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:52:00 +0000

Stephen's comment made me chuckle... and I only say chuckle because giggle seems too silly for the content. Although I must say that chuckle isn't the right word either. *Remembers the short ramble by Miss Eisner about how words cannot be used interchangeably* I digress.

Are we both doomed to be insanely busy or is that how we enjoy our life right now? I think we're both ambitious in our own ways. I'm not clear on what I'm ambitious about, but it's something to do with benefiting my future. (That's good enough, right?) I must admit I need to take extensive breaks to recover from my life.

I just went on a retreat on the weekend. It wasn't much of a break though. It was an all YWiB retreat. (I'm in the SFU chapter, but there's a UBC chapter and a Greater YWiB as well.) The SFU-ers left Friday night and came back Sunday afternoon. Everyone spent Saturday working. We had meetings after meetings, with only meals as breaks. Intensive! Most of us did head out to Garfinkels after quiet time started. (We were staying at the UBC lodge.) As a huge group of girls, needless to say, we didn't have any trouble going in. It was fun and funny. We had each other so we were pretty awesome at getting rid of unwanted guys. Although at the end of the night, it was... different. Most of the stagettes left near the end of the night and all that was left, in terms of females, was our group of girls and a sprinkle of girls who were paired off with guys. Now imagine a club filled with males and a group of girls dancing with each other. It was like vultures checking out their prey. The dork in me immediately thought of Foucault's theory of the panopticon, and then the male gaze ideology. Yes, I'm a true Communications student.

Work hard and party hard. YWiB ladies are the best.

Now back to my notes... meeting with my Co VP tomorrow and then with the board on Sunday. Ahh.

10. work, meeting w/ Co VP
11. work, dino
12. dino, work CTS, out with CTS-ers (pending...)
13. YWiB meeting, grocery shop (pending...)
14. work, purchase world map+colour ink for work
15. work, site visit, meeting with site people, meeting w/ OC
16. work, out with Gor
...best thing about work is that there is not homework

Summer Semester Thus Far

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:30:00 +0000

After reading Stephen's new post, I figured I should write one too. I've been insanely busy this semester. I've confirmed that the busy lifestyle is what I love. I love the feeling of going from one place to another. The need to have a continuous to do list. It's so fulfilling to see a page of "to do's" all checked up and having it spill to another page. It's weird, but I'm not exactly "not weird".

It sure doesn't feel like summer though. The weather has been horrible. Toronto gave me a real summer to compare to, so Vancouver is disappointing me right now.

May highlights:

I'm not sure if I mentioned about my first official day of coop. Well, the wind blew out the power... twice. I ended up going home after 3 hours of work; two and a half of which we were out of power.

We spent our first anniversary in front of the television watching the very disappointing round two game four playoff game. Oh, and he made steak dinner. Yum.

Toronto! It was nice and relaxing. I really appreciated the luxury of taking Friday off from coop as well, so my trip was Friday to Monday rather than just Saturday to Monday. The concert was amazing. Our last meal before returning to Raincouver was outside in the patio. We enjoyed a nice meal with a cocktail and 27 degree weather.

Just on Friday, I went to a meeting with the organization that's paying for my coop. I found out when they were introducing me that they wanted me to do a short speech. Improvising in front of 23 established professionals is not exactly a easy thing.

The past week, I've had about 5 hours worth of meetings for YWiB (www.ywib.ca). Come to think about it, compared to the amount of work that has been done, 5 hours isn't a lot. I'm excited to see our programs and events launch by the end of the summer. The hard work will be worth it!

I finally tried the new ramen place: Hokkaido Ramen Santouka. It's a ramen chain that originated from Japan. I really enjoyed the soup. The cha-shu was delicious! It melted in my mouth. Om nom nom. I didn't enjoy the noodles too much, despite the apparent claim by Japanese people that Santouka cooks their noodles perfectly. I would prefer it if it was a tad softer. Just a tad. Oh, and locals claim that Santouka is the most authentic ramen shop in Vancouver. That may be true, but I've had ramen in Hokkaido and well... it's not the same.

Transit Fail

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:22:00 +0000

I am abnormally pissed at the transit system right now. I always account for late buses (to my best ability), but there's only so much I can do to ensure I'll get to work on time when the transit system is so unreliable.

I went to my bus stop 5 mins before my "safety" bus. I always try to get on one bus before the bus I should go on. This accounts for transfer time and a nice time buffer. Well anyway, that bus left early. The next bus was 10 minutes late. Now I'm going to miss my seabus. Worse part is, I'm going to miss the 228 bus, which comes once every half hour after 8.17 (I need to get on the 8.47 one to get to work on time).

Great. When I get on my safety bus, I always have time for coffee. Not going to happen today. Pattie's going to be a grumpy pants. Sigh.

Small?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:56:00 +0000

Now, I know I lost a LOT of weight since two years ago... it's kind of nice, but I know there's still areas to work on. I'm not huge, but I could be more toned. I digress.

I went to Aritzia today (oh em gee, Pattie's turning into a regular girl?!?). There was a top I wanted to try and the sales associate asked me if I needed help for a size. I asked for a medium and a large to see which fits better (even though I know a large will be loose on me). She grabbed a small for me. Now, i was wearing a dress today and their mirrors are outside of the change room; I needed pants. She grabbed me a pair of 25" jeans. Yeah... thanks but no thanks. She wouldn't let me go a size up x_x*

Needless to say, I could not fit into the jeans. I could if I didn't eat all day and if my derriere was a tad smaller. No way on earth would I give up my toned butt to fit into a size 25.

The top wasn't that bad, and I did end up getting the small. It fitted just right and I was happy. Plus, a petite sales associate thought I'm around her size. Made my day. Now time to curl up in my bed with a book. (I went to the library for the first time in years!)

Coop Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:27:00 +0000

Eight official days down and I'm loving the position. I'm tired, and a tad overwhelmed, but it's a nice change. Usually, when I'm overwhelmed, there's no clear break between work and life. But because I'm by the hour, once I leave the office, I can put my "overwhelm-ness" on break. Love it! =)

Enjoyed a nice evening with A. "Panda" Lee. We went to Foundation for some om nom nom goodness and then enjoyed some Asian refreshments after. It was nice to catch up and just chit chat. I love how open we can be. No censorship here. It's rare to find a friend like that now... especially with so many years of history too. I'm lucky.

Mmkay, need to rest now. How is everyone else's summer going?

Change ii

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 May 2010 17:06:00 +0000

I wanted to see how much I can save by throwing all my change in a "piggy bank" everyday.

March: $3.04
April: $10.07
May: $7.02

In March I only put away pennies, nickels, and dimes. For April, I included quarters ($6.75).

May

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:52:00 +0000

May is not coming soon enough. I am exciting for the next few months. I'm going to be busy with my first coop term planning Canada Day and the Summer Concert Series in North Vancouver. I had a meeting with a previous coop student in the same position today. I didn't realize how intense this coop term will be. I'm really nervous but excited at the same time. Other plans for the summer semester include intense Canucks playoff games, YWiB, work at CTS, Toronto Trip, Bard on the Beach, and walks along the seawall. It's going to be a great summer... I hope.

What are you people up to?