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My A/C Adapter Arrived!
Aug. 5th, 2008 10:31 pmOh, computer and Internet, ILU!
On and off over the past few weeks, I have been without computer access because 1) my laptop caught a bunch of nasty viruses, rendering it almost unoperable, and 2) on a very sad Saturday afternoon, the A/C power adapter to my laptop died :\
Instead of paying $100 for a replacement A/C power adapter at Best Buy, I decided to order a replacement model for less than a third of the price online. Needless to say, the many days I spent waiting for the replacement to arrive were quite long and restless :p
So I did the next best thing and actually read a book! I read Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance by Richard Bitner. It's a very good book, imho, and the first two-thirds or so are especially excellent. (It doesn't hurt that Bitner is an intelligent writer. There's a sharp mind behind his words.) The book is very useful for grant writers like me who wants to understand all the industry jargons being thrown around, and as general books go, this one does a very good job of pulling me out of my little grant proposal universe and show me how the bigger picture is tied to GSEs and the financial sector. Of course, I can't vouch for the book's usefulness for someone actually facing foreclosure due to a subprime deal gone wrong. But then I don't think Bitner's audience are people in the midst of struggling to make ends meet to make their house payments.
The next book to tackle on my "To Read" list is Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I heard great things about this book. :)
On and off over the past few weeks, I have been without computer access because 1) my laptop caught a bunch of nasty viruses, rendering it almost unoperable, and 2) on a very sad Saturday afternoon, the A/C power adapter to my laptop died :\
Instead of paying $100 for a replacement A/C power adapter at Best Buy, I decided to order a replacement model for less than a third of the price online. Needless to say, the many days I spent waiting for the replacement to arrive were quite long and restless :p
So I did the next best thing and actually read a book! I read Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance by Richard Bitner. It's a very good book, imho, and the first two-thirds or so are especially excellent. (It doesn't hurt that Bitner is an intelligent writer. There's a sharp mind behind his words.) The book is very useful for grant writers like me who wants to understand all the industry jargons being thrown around, and as general books go, this one does a very good job of pulling me out of my little grant proposal universe and show me how the bigger picture is tied to GSEs and the financial sector. Of course, I can't vouch for the book's usefulness for someone actually facing foreclosure due to a subprime deal gone wrong. But then I don't think Bitner's audience are people in the midst of struggling to make ends meet to make their house payments.
The next book to tackle on my "To Read" list is Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I heard great things about this book. :)
