Julian's Delusional World

Long Awaited (Brief) Update

Julian — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:52:22 +0000

Wow… it’s been nearly 5 months since my last post but thing have been pretty hectice with the near ending of the audit busy season. Overall, it wasn’t too bad. It was definitely quite challenging at times as well as pretty brutal hours, but it was quite an experience in which I learend a great deal.

My weekend was the norm. I had my thrid CPA Exam (Audit) Saturday morning at 9am. It is suppose to be a 4.5 hour exam but knowing me and how cool I am, I finished an hour or two early. =) I don’t really know how it went. There’s always uncertainty on how CPA exams go–not only for me, but for everyone else. But all and all, I think it went fairly decent. Afterwards, went out to eat at Champagne French Bakery and ordered breakfast stuff at 2 in the afternoon. I love breakfast. I must say it is my favorite meal of the day, not to mention the most important! Rest of the day and weekend consisted of catching up on shows and regular chores.

Other than that, I’ve just been doing the usual at taking a stab at the stock market. Not doing too bad since I started in early January 2009.

Learn more

When I get some time off from work which should be in the coming week or so, my goal is to redo my website and blog. That means some posts will probably be gone and a lot of the URLs will differ, but I will do my best redirect those “page not found” errors to the right web address. So stay tune for my new website next weekend!

Until next time!

Predictions for 2009

Julian — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:39:48 +0000

So once again, my predictions for the new year of 2009:

* Stock Picks:
   Symbol     Price/Share as of 12/31/2008
   FSLR         $137.96
   SPWRA      $37.00
   GE            $16.20
   YUM         $31.82
   P&G          $61.29
   JNJ           $60.13
   CPB          $30.18
   DELL        $10.31
   BLK          $133.00
   WFC         $29.18
   AMGN      $57.75

* Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, will step down.

* Another rough year for stocks, jobs, and the overall economy.

* A merger, bailout, and failure between the Big 3 automakers.

* The year of even deeper shopping discounts.

* Sony to cut Play Station 3 prices in hopes to compete with the XBox 360, Nintendo Wii and rough economic conditions.

* The year the Treasury and credit card bubble pops.

* The government puts educational spending/programs in the back seat.

* The fight over energy and profits–more severe supply cuts.

A Look Back on my 2008 Predictions

Julian — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:20:16 +0000

So, it is the Eve before the 2009 year, and I thought I would reflect on my 5 predictions that I made on December 27, 2007.

My predictions for 2008 were:
$100+ oil = TRUE
Stocks to rise in 2008 = FALSE (Simply due to the economic climate/recession)
Economic Slow Down / Recession = TRUE
Political Predictions = FALSE Although Hilary was selected as Secretary of State.. so half right. haha)
YouTube Advertising Integration in Videos =TRUE

Three out of five isn’t so bad. I shall continue this tradition in predicting what to look for in the new year of 2009, so look out for my entry soon.

Life Update

Julian — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:25:36 +0000

It has been quite a while since I posted a blog entry. I have been meaning to keep on top of it, but I’ve been incredibly busy between work and studying for my CPA exam. But alas, here is my blog entry! I’ve moved to Orange County a few months ago to start my career at one of the Big 4 accounting firms and things are going well so far. There is a lot to learn and a lot to do–which is good. It has been a huge adjustment moving and working in a big city. Although it’s not easy, I enjoy the work, traveling and meeting new people as well as the constant learning. It keeps things lively and not too mundane.

The economy pretty much sucks right now as you might as well know regardless of where you are in the world. I’ve been following this whole financial crisis since the start back in 2007 and it’s getting pretty ugly. Regardless of what Obama proposes as the new president-elect, or what McCain would have proposed if he would of won the election, I don’t think there is an immediate cure to the whole situation. As the old cliche goes, “time is the best medicine”. Many years down the road, these past year or two is just gonna appear as a little blip in the economy (not to underestimate its severity in today’s perspective). My prediction is that the economy will pick up during the fall/winter of 2009, if not by mid-2010. One thing that I must point out is that the economy is self-corrects itself automatically. The stimulus that we throw in only attempts to speed the process up, so when it comes 2009 or 2010, you know the media is going to over exaggerate and portray Obama as the mastermind who got the U.S. out of this financial crisis when it fact it was just a matter of time. If you want to speed the process up, get rid of the uncertainty that arises in the markets. Merge Ford, GM and Chrysler which will get rid of the uncertainty in the automaker industry. And as for financials, haven’t we done what we can with the $700 billion package? Now we just got to wait for it to kick in and take effect.

Speaking of the economy and politics, I can’t believe California passed Proposition 1A which is for a high speed train in California. This is not the time to be spending $81 billion for a train when nearly everyone has their own vehicle. Although it’s a nice idea, I doubt the usefulness of it. First of, nearly everyone has a vehicle of their own, there are airports everywhere, and what about Amtrak? Sure Amtrak is slower compared to this high speed train, but it gets you there nonetheless and it’s not like you’ll be using Amtrak everyday or the high speed train for that matter. One thing that I have yet to figure out is the cost of a ticket for that so-called high speed train. Is the cost of building the train going to bring that much more benefit to us?

I recently joined the Orange County Hiking and Backpacking club / group to get me out of the work mindset and to keep me sane! It’s a big stress reliever. So here are some photos of my hike today at Turtle Rock overlooking Orange County.

UCSB CPA Review Course Complete!

Julian — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:41:19 +0000

I haven’t had time to post any real life updates since I was incredibly busy taking my CPA Review course, but I am please to say, I am done! I got my 24 units and I did fairly well overall on all four parts of the CPA review exam sections. Here are my average scores for each section:

1. Business Environment & Concepts (BEC): 88%
2. Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR): 94%
3. Regulation (REG): 91%
4. Audit & Attestation (AUDIT): 93%

Now all that’s left is to actually take the real CPA exam which I plan to take 2 or 3 parts (BEC, FAR, and Audit)during October and November, and then in January 2009 and February 2009 take Regulation and Audit (if I haven’t taken/passed Audit already).

I must admit, I feel a lot more comfortable as to what to expect on the CPA exam and with some more time studying, I think I will be ready to take and pass the exam my first time through.

Starting Anew

Julian — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:15:45 +0000

I feel like running out there.
Gravity, reason, all disappears.
Is it really revolutionary
To wanna live an extraordinary life.

Outside the street signs turn to grey.
Colors begin to lose their meaning.
A thousand faces pass me by,
But nothing has really changed.

Greed, conceit, hate.
There’s more to life than this.
It’s what I’m looking for .

It’s a beautiful moment you can’t describe.
It’s the love of your life at the blink of an eye.
It’s a shot in the dark but it keeps you alive.

So say hello to a new way.
The sun will shine an eternal rain.
And wake up to a new day.

Goleta Gap Fire

Julian — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:34:15 +0000

The power finally came back on, so here are some of the picutres of the recent Goleta Gap Fire I took the past few days.

Goleta Gap Fire update as of 1:00pm, July 6, 2008:

Location: 3.5 north of Goleta
Percent contained: 28%
Acres burned: 9,367
Structures threatened: 1,700
Structures destroyed: 4 Outbuildings
Suppression cost to date: $6.2 Million

Resources in use:
Crews: 7
Engines: 30
Aircraft: 20
Dozers: 16
Total Personnel Assigned: 1188

For up-to-date information about the fire please visit:
InciWeb.org: http://165.221.39.44/incident/1384/
KEYT News: http://www.keyt.com/

Click on each image to view them full-size.

Tags: Goleta Gap Fire, Gap Fire, Santa Barbara Fire, Santa Barbara Gap Fire, Goleta CA Gap Fire

Protected: UCSB Commencement 2008 Pictures

Julian — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:44:21 +0000

UCSB Alumni!

Julian — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:27:24 +0000

I am finally a UCSB Alumni with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in Accounting!

Go Gauchos and Class of 2008!

More updates to come during the week…

Click to view fullsize.

Life = Risk

Julian — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:14:43 +0000

Don’t be put off achieving your destiny, even if you have experienced failure in your life. This video mentions well known people who had failed, but kept pressing on until they became successful. Never give up!