JANUARY – MAY:

For my friends who know a little something about the Big 4 firms, in which I work for one of the four largest international accountancy and professional services firms, I was immersed into the lovely time of year called “busy season”.  A time of 60-70 hour work weeks, late nights, and a keen addiction to caffeine.

JUNE-AUGUST:

In June, I continued to study for my last CPA exam, Regulation.  I took my exam in July and found out I passed my exam in August!  Now I am in the midst of doing all the paperwork to get my CPA license.  Also during this time, I continued to work on a variety of audit clients ranging from technology to consumer products.  In addition, in June, I participated in my frm’s internationally recognized Impact Day–to make an impact on the communities where they work and live.  This year the people of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu firms around the world shut off their computers, email, and phones to provide skills-based volunteering and a helping hand to hundreds of not-for-profit organizations as part of IMPACT Day. Deloitte member firm professionals use this day to support not-for-profits in activities where they share their knowledge and expertise such as strategic business planning and helping teachers in schools, as well as painting buildings and beautifying parks and gardens. About 50,000 Deloitte people across 60 countries contributed their time and skills throughout the year to serve their communities.  This year, I helped paint a mural at a local elementary school and helped setup computers in the school’s newly donated computer lab. It was fun having paint brush sword fights with the kids. 

SEPTEMBER:

On September 9th, I celebrated my 23rd birthday.  My girlfriend took me out for a nice birthday dinner at a sushi restaurant. Yum!  Even my colleagues and boss celebrated my birthday by bringing in cookies, cake, and taking me out to lunch which was extremely nice.  Also, on September 15th, I celebrated my one year anniversary with my company, Deloitte & Touche LLP.  I am now a second year. Woot!  Looking back, I have learned more than I could ever imagine and have been given so many opportunities and unique experiences, as well as made some great friends.  There is definitely a huge gap in what I know today compared to the day I graduated college.

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER:

Starting in October, I was given the opportunity to work on a new life sciences client in which I put in some fairly long hours through December.  It was quite an experience in which I learned a great deal about the industry and really enjoyed working with everyone.  

DECEMBER:

In an effort to not repeat my last year shopping experience, I began my holiday shopping much earlier in the month rather than the week of, or a few days before Christmas day.  I finished all my shopping by December 22nd–a new record!  Now I have a few days off to relax and enjoy life.  It is definitely my favorite time of the year and the perfect opportunity to wind down and catch up with friends and family.  I also went ice skating for the first time in my life at the Irvine Spectrum.  It was pretty hilarious hearing the sound of kids falling hard on their tookus.

Anyways, that about wraps up my year.  December is nearly at an end and as we prepare for the Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, and New Years, I would like to wish a Happy Holidays from my family to yours.

Here’s looking forward to Twenty-Ten!

Click on the link below to visit my Fundraising Page and help me reach my personal goal by making an online donation today…

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Any amount is truly appreciated and it is easy and secure to do… just follow the directions once you click on the link above. When you make an online donation you will automatically receive an e-tax receipt from Junior Achievement and I will be notified by email of your support. Together we are truly making a difference in the lives of children.

If you can’t give, but know someone who can, please pass this on to them! I would really appreciate it. I will be happy to show you how to sign up! When more people know about this exciting event, even more money can be raised for Junior Achievement allowing more children to benefit from their programs.

Thank you very much for your consideration in helping me reach my fundraising goal for this very worthwhile endeavor! For additional information about Junior Achievement of Orange County, California or this year’s Bowl-A-Thon, please visit http://www.jasocal.org/.

Well, a quick update on what is new. I am currently taking a real estate class (RE 170) at Saddleback College to be a little more informed about the whole real estate industry as well as earn my last 2.3 units for my CPA requirements. The title of the course is Real Estate Principles in California. I think it will prove most helpful when I do decide to purchase a home someday. Although this is an online class since I can’t really attend class due to work, but I prefer it this way. I was always a self-study type of person.

The online course program we use is quite weird. The narrator’s voice is completely computer generated. It’s note even a real person. It’s the computer reading whatever the publisher types, so that is very dull. It’s a 6 week course, and I’m hoping to complete it withing 3-4 weeks. Out of the 17 chapter book, I have completed 2 chapters thus far in these two days. But we’ll see how things go–if not, I will use all 6 weeks to complete it.

These two chapters have been somewhat of a review to me since I took a business law class at UCSB, and I studied/took the Regulation exam portion of the CPA exam, so there is a lot of overlap in the material I already know. But that should change as I get a few more chapters into it (hopefully).

All in all, it’s not a bad class to take. It’s a necessary to learn this stuff regarding real estate transactions. I do have a short 500 word essay to write and I’m trying to think of a unique real estate topic to write about, but nothing has come to mind. I’ll keep on thinking about it and will be sure to post my essay for all to read after my class is over.

Whoah, there were 3 earthquakes at 8:39pm today. The main one was a 5.0 earthquake located in the greater Los Angeles area along with a 3.1 and 2.7 aftershock.

I was sitting down eating my dinner and then all of a sudden I felt a jolt going back and forth. It took several seconds for me to comprehend what it was. At first I thought I was just dizzy, and then I thought it was possibly my neighbor above being loud–my neighbor tends to walk very heavily. Then I saw my TV started to shake along with my clothes hanging on my kitchen bar counter.  Then seconds later, I saw other items in my apartment starting to sway. So I got up and stood under my doorway (just in case).

It was pretty thrilling, although that may not be the best word to use. It sure got my heart pumping.  Luckily, this one didn’t last too long–about 10-20 seconds. And it sounds like judging by KCAL 9 and KTLA news, everyone seems to be alright, so that’s good.

Here’s a screenshot of the quake that just happened:

Well, I just took the Regulation section of the CPA exam yesterday and lets just say I got owned. It was insanely difficult… and lets just leave it at that.

Now that I have a little time on my hands until I get the results of my Audit and Regulation CPA Exams, I decided to get back into reading books that I’ve started during college but never had the time to finish. So currently, I have two books on my plate, the first one is called Extraordinary Circumstances – The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower by Cynthia Cooper (you may know her from when WorldCom went bust along with Enron). The second book I am reading is called The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Chairman.

These books aren’t your so-called fiction novels or what may be “fun” reading, but these topics interest me very much. All in all, I much rather read a textbook than an actual fiction novel. So far, on both of these books, I am about halfway done and hope to be finished with them in the coming few weeks.

If you have any other book recommendations, let me know! I have coupons to Barnes & Nobles as well as gift cards I have yet to use.

UPDATE: In anticipation of summer, I updated my song of the moment with an awesome tune by ATB called “Summer Rain”.