Forays in Finance

Recently my Motorola E51 phone bit the dust after about a year of heavy use, plunging me back in the market for a cordless digital phone.

After a prolonged search for the ultimate home phone, the VTech 6031 DECT phone fit the bill. Not only is it sexy and sleek, a must have for my girlfriend, but it also comes packed with a ton of features and a well-designed interface. The most important, which I found to be lacking on a lot of other phones, is the speed-dial phone book. It also uses the DECT or Digital Enhanced (formerly European) Cordless Telecommunications standard for wireless communication. In a nutshell, DECT solves the problem of interference at the 5.8GHz or the 2.4GHz frequency range which is used by wireless routers, cordless phones, and microwaves.

The 6031 model is a single hand-set without an answering machine as SHAW offers voice mail with the plan that I have. VTech does offer other models that come with multiple hand-sets and an answering machine.

For $69.99, I'm a happy camper. Now let's just hope that it lives up to it's potential!

I just had to post this.

but she's got great hair..so give her a break!

23/07/2007
09:45 HRS
SOMEWHERE IN SW CALGARY

AGENT PROFILE:
->Name: Shary Mudassir
->Call-Sign: JungleSnake
->Training: Software Engineering, Special-Operations IT
->Last Mission: IT Project Management, OnTime-OnBudget
->Current Whereabouts: Unknown

BATTLE GEAR:
->IBM ThinkPad X61 Tablet PC, locked and loaded with Vista, Office 2007
->RIM BlackBerry 8700, Data and Voice Plan
->MBA Collaboration Website: http://mba.sharymudassir.com
->Custom Tailored Blue Suit with built-in ConfidenceBooster

YOUR MISSION:
Intelligence has decoded enemy communications detailing plans of increased MBA activity over the next 2 years in Sector UofC. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to seek out and accomplish all MBA courses. You are also expected to provide strategic support to allied forces engaged in the MBA program.

Good Luck Student! 
_________________________
***This useless post was written to test the features of Windows Live Writer. So far so good. It picked up DasBlog settings and posting was a breeze.

This probably comes as no surprise to my friends, who occasionally refer to me as a Certoholic, but yes I finally found a reason to pursue non-IT certifications. With my Finance MBA starting in September, I decided to put my financial knowledge to the test by pursuing the must-have certification for anyone dreaming up a career in the financial world: the Canadian Securities Course.

The course covers at an introductory level just about everything you will come across in your financial career and topics range from the Economy, Interest rates, Regulations, Equities, Fixed Income, and Derivatives to Market Assessment and Portfolio Management.

As I have been involved in the market for over 5 years now and manage my own personal portfolio, I figured the course would be a breeze. Most of the material was familiar to me but some material on market regulation was new and the chapter on Fixed-Income was an intersting read as I don't find myself trading bonds that often (never to be exact). Anyways, there are a total of 2 exams. I studied about a month for Exam 1. Probably about an hour in the evenings after work and a good 10-15 hours on the weekends. Here are the results from Exam 1.

That's 83%. If I score more than 80% on both exams I get the 'Honors' designation as well. Woohoo!!! (Note the sarcasm)