Relocation preparations continuing...

Two posts in one day - you can tell I've a bit of free time now that those online tests are over, eh. Anyway, I thought I'd provide an update on where I'm up to in terms of my relocation to Boston. Here's all the stuff that I have to do/have done so far:

1. Find housing in Boston. Well, I've started - sort of. I've been checking out rental properties online, but it's really hard to do it from so far away. All I know is that I'm thinking of finding something in either Brighton, Allston, Wellesley, Newton or Waltham, but that's about it. I think I should be able to sort it out when I get there. My budget is between $US1000 - $1500 which I think should be flexible enough to cover what I need - a 1BR place with high-speed internet and enough space to put a good sized desk. Status: Not completed.
2. Pack personal effects for shipment to Boston. Started, but not yet finished. Basically I have two destinations for my boxes: 1) Manila (for stuff I won't be using) and 2) Boston (for stuff that I'll be using). So far I've packed four boxes - three filled with books to Manila, and one with winter clothes to go to Boston. I reckon I'll go past 10 boxes by the time I'm finished. The boxes are all 45cm x 40cm x 35cm and weigh from 10kg (clothes) to 20kg (books). Status: Not completed.
   
3. Choose a freight forwarder. I think I'll be using EzySend for my freight forwarder to the US, they do air shipments door to door and the shipments take about 4 days or so. Cost estimate for 10 boxes of the above size @ 20kg each was approx. $A1700. Not cheap, but a hell of a lot cheaper than Grace Removals was charging me ($4000 or something). For the Manila shipment I'll be using the Manila door to door people we've been using, they're mega-cheap. Status: Basically decided.
   
4. Buy a laptop. I'm on the verge of getting one - it's come down to a choice between an IBM T43 or a Sony VAIO VGN-S48GP. I reckon I'd be happy with both of them, and am leaning towards the Sony because Maryrose has a Sony VAIO that she's happy with, but as it typical with me (being a perfectionist) I need to make sure my decision is the right one. As Maryrose can package it here the price really drops to the point where it's cheaper than the US ones. Here's the spreadsheet I used to do my analysis. I want to go to somewhere where I can check out the IBM (I've seen the Sony and it looks good). I hope to decide by tomorrow or Thursday.
5. Close up ANZ bank account (and other accounts). OK, haven't really started doing this, but it shouldn't take too long. How hard can it be? Status: Not started.
6. Advertise my bed and other furniture for sale. Haven't started yet, but that's because I'm not sure if Maryrose will be renting out our apartment as a furnished place. Status: Not started.
7. Sell my car. This is one I'm a bit concerned about. I advertised this three weeks ago but still haven't heard anything from anyone. I reckon my price is too high and so have dropped it from $45000 to $34,950. It kills me as we paid $38000 to buy out the bloody lease and an additional $11000 to sort out the legal dispute with Alfa over the bloody engine and it looks like I'll be bloody losing major $$$ on it when I sell it. That's not to mention the fact that buying it out halfway through the lease meant that I effectively rented it for $2000 a month, or $500 a week. Or $70 a day. It's nuts, eh. Don't ever get into a novated lease, ever. It's just not worth it if things go wrong (i.e. you quit your job or your manufacturer refuses to honour the warranty on your vehicle). It's a prestige car and so is relatively price inelastic, but I'd really like to sell it before I go so to make it easier for Maryrose. Status: Advertised...now waiting.

I think that's about it. I'll add to this list as I remember more things.

Turning to cricket - options for the OZ for the Ashes

Now that the Poms have been properly taught their place in the pyjama stuff it's time for the real cricket - the bi-annual Ashes contest - to start. It's been encouraging to see Dizzy Gillespie and Mick Kasprowicz come back to some semblance of form, but both are still a way away from their best form. At the moment you could say the team is nearly confirmed:

1 Langer
2 Hayden
3 Ponting (c)
4 Martyn
5 Clarke
6 ?
7 Gilchrist (wk)
8 Warne
9 Lee
10 ?
11 McGrath

Basically the competitors for those ? spots are, IMO:

6 - Katich/Watson
10 Kasper/Dizzy

The logical approach would be to play Katich at 6 and Kasper at 10 to be first change bowler. So basically the team remains the same as the one which caned the Kiwis in NZ, except for Lee replacing Dizzy, who's still short of form for mine. Seven frontline bats, three quicks and a spinner. The usual OZ formula.

But it may not be as clearcut as that...it all depends on how we want to use Lee. Let's assume Lee will be in the side no matter what as it would be truly criminal for Bing to miss out after being possibly the best OZ bowler in the Natwest series (the first one and the second one).

Who then fills 6 and 10 may come down to how the OZ decide to play. There are two schools of thought regarding Brett Lee:

1. Use him as a strike bowler

Lee is not suited to bowling long spells in Test cricket (bit like Akthar). His main value is in bowling short, sharp, hostile spells where he's bowling all out at maximum pace to try and get wickets. I reckon you bowl him in 5-6 over spells to get the best out of him, nothing more than that. This means that the workload of bowling more overs will have to be distributed among the other quicks (ie Pidge and Kasper). That workload may be a bit much for them.

So...if they adopt this strategy it would make sense to pick Watson at 6 as an allrounder, so that he can be used as a workhorse along with Kasper and McGrath, with Warney and Clarke to provide the spin. I'm the first to say that I think Watson's shithouse, almost Lionsesque with both bat and ball, but he would alleviate the load on Pidge and Kasper and allow Lee to be used as a strike weapon to take wickets. Even though Watson's shite at batting the OZ have Gilly at 7, so 6 1/2 world class batsmen may just be enough to build a decent innings score. The selectors have a love affair with Metrosexual and have been trying to groom him for this sort of allrounder role for a couple of years now.

But there's one problem with this scenario: Watson is shithouse. Both with the bat and the ball. Makes it hard to pick him when he's shithouse. And this scenario would be extremely unfair on Katich, who has missed out so bloody many times (and would be unfair on Hussey, who definitely deserves to be there ahead of Watson as a batsman).

So there's a fallback option:

2. Use Lee as a carthorse with Kasper and Pigeon with Warney and Clarke to provide variety

This would mean Lee would bowl a lot longer spells. This would even up the workload between himself, Kasper and McGrath, and would allow us to pick Katich in to bat at No6 and use Katich's spin to support Clarke and Warne. It allows the entire team to be picked on merit but I still have nightmares of the Indians treating Bing like a gulli bowler in OZ in 2004 (albeit on featherbeds) when he was used as a carthorse.

Or the selectors could be complete boffins and not pick Brett, meaning you'd see this:

3. McGrath/Kasper/Dizzy three-prong with Warney and Clarke to spin

This would be the worst choice IMO, Dizzy's only had one decent game and Kasper only two. Who will Ponting throw the ball to if he needs a wicket aside from Pidge? I've been impressed with Lee's control since the NZ series, I reckon he's ready for a return to Test cricket.

Which leads us to the brave choice:

4. McGrath/Lee/Dizzy/Kasper four prong + Warney and six specialist batsmen

Extremely risky as we're only picking six specialist batsmen, but geez we'd maximise our chances of taking 20 wickets, eh. The great West Indian teams of old only picked six specialist batsmen along with a wicketkeeper so they could pick a four prong of quicks.

I reckon Option 2's the most logical one, but don't be surprised if the selectors plump for Option 1. OZ have traditionally played a 7-3-1 split of seven bats, three pacers and one spinner, so they'll probably go conservative this time.

C'mon you Aussies! Do us proud.

Oh no!!

Okay, I've just finished the Math and Accounting prework exams for Babson. I passed the Math one but I think I failed the Accounting one (which really sucked). Basically it means I have to attend extra Accounting classes during Module I. Personally, I think the way they marked the Accounting exam was total BS (I realise this sounds like sour grapes, but it's what I think). Basically they mark you on how many specific numbers (e.g. net profit, interest expense, retained earnings, etc) you get right. Makes sense in theory, right? Problem is, you can get one key independent variable wrong (let's say interest expense, since that's what I got wrong - I put $1500 instead of $4500) and it means that every other value that depends on that number is also wrong (e.g. interest expense, total assets, retained earnings, net profit, cash balance, etc) even though you may have demonstrated clear understanding of how everything works and actually come up with a spreadsheet transactional model which also works. Basically you're shafted because your relational spreadsheet (assuming you did all your formulas and links right) cascades the miscalculation down to every other dependent variable, and so instead of getting one answer wrong you get 7 or 8 - and they're all wrong by the exact same amount ($2000) that the original (independent) variable number was wrong!

In other words my calculations were all right, but because my original base number was wrong obviously everything that was dependent on one of those original bases became incorrect.

I'll stop belabouring the point, and will raise what is probably an obvious question: why did I get such a bloody simple thing like interest expense wrong in in the first place? The answer is that I had a bloody brain explosion and divided the interest expense by three. My fault, and a stupid mistake - but geez the penalty far outweighed the crime in my humble opinion. Although the Big Four auditors would probably disagree with me. Or maybe not, judging from WorldCom - they might not have even noticed!

Anyway, it's obvious that I'm a bit annoyed with myself at the moment. I spent a couple of hours building a transactional spreadsheet on this thing, I even came up with balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements for the next three years for it, only to be brought down by one silly mistake. I'll probably get over it tomorrow, but as of right now I'm still pissed off. What a joke!! Extra classes - there goes my free drinking time...

Still alive

Yes, I'm still here. Haven't posted lately as there hasn't been much to report. I'm getting ready to move - I fly to Manila on the 3rd August (tentatively) and then to Boston on the 13th. Still need to finalise a few things, like which removalist I'm going to use and what I'm going to ship to Boston. Because I'm shipping so few boxes none of the removalists or freight forwarders really care about my business. Bastards. Also trying to work out if I should use FF points to go to Manila or pay, as it looks like I'll have to transit via Hong Kong if I use FF points.

Haven't decided whether or not to undergo LASIK surgery either. This would've been a perfect time to do it if I decided to do it, but I'm not sure if I want to undergo it via a microkeratome or IntraLase. IntraLase is supposedly better but opinions are conflicting. So maybe I'll just revert to contacts, I don't know.

Back soon.