A group of friends and I decided to take a trip to the museum of natural history. It had been a while since I visited. I would go often with my father up until I was 6, then these trips would be supplemented by motor cross rides and other sports. I have fond memories of the halls of animals placed with beautiful detail, the titanic fossil structures, and the overall beauty of the architecture. The marine biology section to my view is the must see of the museum, there is a sense upon entering that you have actually become submerged into the depths of the oceans. From the shore dwelling creatures on the upper levels of the sea floors to creatures that live in environments so entrenched and hostile with adaptations that amaze. My second favorite place to visit is the rooms filled to the ceiling with fossils and representations of the creatures that lived millions of year ago. These powerful gigantic species are an awakening to the fact that very little species last long on the earth. The environment changes more rapidly than species can evolve, and as humans have had an increasing presence our needs have come with a cost. The cost: the extinction of countless populations. Soon it would not be crazy to think that bears, giraffes, lions, jaguars, and many other species in the museum will be presented to our children’s children as extinct animals of our past generation. The founder of the museum, Roosevelt, was a key proponent to the erection of laws aimed to conserve the animals that humans tend to forget about in their urban dwellings or for money. With his guidance America has lush wildlife habitats that exist through the establishment of natural parks. So while my friends, visitors, and I roam the halls in admiration, we must not forget that many of these beautiful creatures, separated by panes of glass, exist among us and are constantly threatened by our actions.
Author: g.dunan
Eating, Breathing, Selling Waffles
It’s five am, my alarm rings, I wake up redundantly and prepare for a long day of heat and toil. Am I going to build financial A.I or work for a global nonprofit? No, I am going to sell Belgian waffles at some kid’s three million dollar twelfth month old birthday party. Younger, I would ponder: “why did my father, a successful interior designer, choose to drop everything to found a waffle company?”. This was mostly do to my sheer hate of the tedious necessities of running a business. To be frank the first 2 years of most businesses are tough, a business is almost so demanding that the owners work for it rather than the other way around. I will never forget the many hectic multi-day work days of the young company. Those 24-48 hour non-stop shifts were the biggest wake up calls of my life and taught me hard work pays off. I have matured since the founding of the company, as I see I have progressed along with the company. I understand now that the complexities of a business is equally present in large tech companies as it is in a growing franchise and greatly developed my character. As I have seen the progression of a small company from selling on cold streets in small carts, to opening storefronts and catering VIP events, I can be proud to say that I was part of it. In sum, this little waffle company taught me that if you take anything seriously and work hard to innovate and expand it, anything is possible. My father would always tell me, “take every job seriously and think of it as an opportunity, even if you are a garbage man. With time you can find an innovation or issue that could be the basis of a successful company”. Thousands of waffles later I can fully appreciate that principle through personal experience.
Thank you, and let no one tell you what area to focus on, all fields have avenues for growth; from garbage collection to algorithmic trading software.
Bloomberg Workshop
“What were we even doing there?” I thought to myself. We don’t even know how to trade yet and we are learning about a 2000 dollar system that has enough features to drive you insane. It was not a bad experience, simply one that would of been avoided if I knew the content would simply be a summary of a program that none of us could really use effectively at the time because of a lack of basic understanding in trading.
To this extent in the future maybe I will come to be very grateful to some of the knowledge I have gained at the event. When I understand the theory of trading and can accurately use the technology of Bloomberg, I will be golden for a career as a trader.
One of the incredible features of Bloomberg that really impressed me was the social media tracker that could analyze all social media posts for companies and rate them as negative or positive for the company’s stock. It displayed everything from the volume of posts about the company, how negative the comments were, and how the stock price was effected. What was interesting was that while many stocks were affected by the news about 30% showed no change in direction after the media and social network attention.
I am one that believes in behavioral economics, people do not act rationally most of the time, unlike how economists model things. To this extent I am happy to have attended this event even if it was to learn only one thing that I found extremely useful. With the information that Bloomberg makes simple to attain, one can begin to make strategies and theories for trading successfully.
BAP: Brotherhood, Community Service, and Professionalism
On Thursday September 7th Victor and I went to the second GIM of Beta Alpha Psi. We first heard about this professional fraternity from a promoter on the second floor handing out flyers. The GIM went well and I began to understand that this was not a typical fraternity but a lifelong “brotherhood” that would bring me valuable insight and connections. Their three principals: brotherhood, community service, and professionalism struck a chord with me. I have always enjoyed connecting with people from many different regions and cultures and BAP being one of the most diverse fraternities made it a more appealing brotherhood to join. Their focus on community service was also something that I did not expect from a fraternity, even less so from a business fraternity but this set of values is what is needed to be a happy individual. I remember some of the most gratifying moments in my life were when I would tutor students struggling in high school and then see their grades shoot up a week later. The last but not least focus of BAP is professionalism, members who join the fraternity as Freshman are obligated to go through a RUSH program. This entails an extensive study of what one must be fluent in for success in the business world. This includes working in Excel, learning mannerisms needed for a successful interview, and general knowledge and connections that open up new horizons. I knew this was the right fraternity for me as it allowed the perfect balance between having fun and professional work. 