To BCom or not to BCom?

The world of Academics with society as an accomplice, have single-handedly changed the perception of what higher education really is. Going to college has only one real purpose now, and it is to train you into a profession so you can be thrown into the workforce and stimulate the economy. Whereas in the times of the Renaissance, higher level of learning is only eligible to the small group of fortunate Aristocrats. Often times men, they are sent for a Tour around Europe to study subjects that will reinforce their personal enlightment.  Nowadays, when one decides to enter an institution of higher learning, especially right after high school, CEGEP or its equivalence, the decision of what to study and what to do is such a fundamental question that it may haunt so many of us students. Some choose an already-established and thought-out academic path for the next four years, while others just simply acquire a general set of philosophical and scientific knowledge to enhance their personal intellectual wealth, which usually means that a post-undergraduate degree will ensue in the near future. And others, are simply clueless as to what their purpose is at college/university, other than deliberately spending thousands of dollars into something that supposedly will shape their life existence. Everyone falls into either of these categories.

As for I, my studies and my goals have become even more ambiguous as my undergraduate studies progress. I'm currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) program, which is essentially a business degree in Canada, and I have switched major three times in a span of half a year. I've come to major in International Business and then switched into Operations and Production Management, to finally "settle" for Accounting. My first thought of pursuing a business degree isn't so that I could slave myself into the routine-imposed, 9 to 5 office career for eternity. I initially wanted to get a well-rounded business education so that I can pursue different career paths in different fields, while at the same time fall back on a "legit" and "safe" degree if things go sour. But I've come to realized, and now I'm starting to believe, that a business degree has become essentially a "cover-up" degree where it makes people think that it is worth something; but in the end, especially in our new time of economic, social, and technological change, it has completely lost its meaningfulness. The endless list of annual top Chief Executive Officers of today's leading multinationals that leaks out every year through different media types have, in general, never been through an undergraduate in business. Case in point, here's a few of the world's top innovative and successful CEOs:

Jeff Besos (Amazon.com) - Computer Science & Electronical Engineering

Jaimie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase) - BA Economics/Psychology, MBA

Howard Levine (Family Dollar) - Undergraduate dropout

Chase Carey (DirectTV) - BS Mathematics & Economics

Rex W. Tillerson (Exxon Coporation) - BEng Civil Engineering

Jim Skinner (McDonald's) - No higher education

Some of them have gone and obtained an MBA, while others simply maintained their BS or BA degrees. I cannot deny that business programs enable the future citizens of the Corporate World to develop some analytical skills, as well as entrepreneurial quality to make effective and efficient decisions once out on the market, but I'm simply questionning whether with  that only, is a marketable attribute that will entice employers to seek business undergraduate instead of engineering (computer, electronics), physics, mathematics or economics graduates to fulfill available positions. These area of specialization are highly valued because they are considered to prep the individuals with very analytical skills that can directly apply to business problems. In a way, it just simply put even more fierce competition on the job market. Maybe what is thought in business schools is not as relevent and the same as the real business outside of school. I'm not disgusted with what business degrees have become, far from that or else I would have gave it up and transfered into liberal arts to study English, History, Political Science, and Art, all things I have interests in. I am merely playing the Devils's advocate and seeing what the outside world beyond university perimeters really is like. 

I'm hoping to be wrong about what I'm saying and that I am simply scaring myself with the thought of becoming an unemployed burden to society in the future. I'm always so fascinated about what other people are studying and their life pursuits. I'm fascinated by the overachieving pre-med students who, upon successfully graduating, will lead a fulfilling and productive life. I'm fascinating by the Arts students who, despite knowing that without a meaningful Philosophical Doctorate degree will not dedicate their life to their crafts, still get to enjoy the feeling that they've learned about human evolution, thoughts, ideas, the answers to the present and the questions of tomorows. I'm fascinated by those who are willing to spend significant portions of their time deriving and anti-deriving numbers so that they can in turn build bridges and buildings that sustain civil society. Maybe I'm too curious, and the idea that I must spend 3 years studying one main specific topic that may or may not get me a job is not satisfying enough. 

If anything, there is always Law school (not that the world needs yet another lawyer :P )

Today's Bananas Topic: Frivolous Spending

For those who know me, I'm a very frivolous spender. I'm not saying I possess *a lot* of money to permit me to do all that frivolous spending, but I definitely get around in raising some "moola" to pay off my debts. To be fair, I don't spend my hard earned cash on pricey things everyday, impulsively without some kind of judgement about consequences....sort of. Alright, I don't spend everyday, but it is impulsive though. Sometimes I return them when I feel like I could still live at full potential without it, and sometimes, heck, why giving it up? Plus the hassle of going back to return it is enough to make me want to keep it afterall. I don't want to promote frivolous shopping in this economical and financial climate because it would seem insensitive, but fact is...the more you spend, the more the economy will soon shift the aggregate expenditure curve upward, which in turn will shift both the aggregate demand and aggregate supply curve from actual GDP at a recessionary period to its potential output real GDP. In non-economic terms, the recessionary gap closes and the economy will stabilize. Sure, it's not that simple, but a little less saving will definitely benefit future economic growth in the long run. So with that in mind, I feel a little less guilty about writing a post about trivial spending. So here's the deal, I'm going to dedicate this post space to things I have spent in the past, will spend in the near future, and things that *you* should spend (if you suddenly have the urge to deplete your chequing account) that I really like and enjoy, but that some people find overpriced/unnecessary. I have no regrets when I swipe my card and punch in my PIN number, and neither should you.

FreeCity What's FreeCity? Well let me tell you what FreeCity is. FreeCity is a lifestyle clothing brand specializing in comfortable city, California-esque fashion gear. They make sweatpants, sweatshirts, t-shirts, hoodies, for women, men and children. Sure, it sounds like nothing special, but FreeCity is a concept based on life, art, fashion, new discoveries, and help promote under-the-radar artists. All things that I support. But truly, what attracts me to FreeCity is how amazingly comfortable their goods are, it's unbelievable. Their stuff is so soft and so easy to wear, you can practically live in it forever (humm...don't..it's just a figure of speech). You'll definitely look cool in them, because that's what all celebrities have been spotted in. I put this under frivolous spending because their clothing comes with a hefty price tag. Sweatpants and hoodies can easily be around and over US$120, while t-shirts are priced at US$148, not so cheap eh? But here's the upside (if you still think there's an upside after seeing these 3-digit prices), they will last you a long time, and you will wear it almost everyday. So if you balance it out, perhaps, it will be worth it.  Check FreeCity website for more details, or TNT(100, St-Catherine Ouest) carry some FreeCity inventory. 

Bose Headphones I don't know about you but I have gone through so many headphones for my ipod, it's become a major issue now. Just today, I thought I had yet again lost my headphones while on my way out of the house, but turns out I just simply misplaced it in another pocket. But this little incident got me thinking about what new other headphones should I get have I truly lost my current headphones. I've gone through a few selections in my head, and honestly I cannot see any other alternative than Bose. Have you ever tried Bose? Please tell me you have, because it's one great piece of sound technology. The sounds that come out of those headphones and transfer into your hearing senses is just pure bliss. It's crystal clear, smooth, sound scratch-free and best of all, noice-cancelling. The headphones come in earphones format as well if you don't like having something over your head for music (like me). For $349 for headphones and $130 for earphones, you can finally "hear a difference". 

Raffaello I don't have a sweet tooth, I must admit. I'm more of a salty food kind of person. I don't mind having a second round of a main dish and skip the dessert altogether. Some people find it bewildering that I don't eat chocolates. Actually, I tell them I don't eat chocolate, but I enjoy chocolate flavor, so I do like chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate muffins, just not the actual chocolate. However, I really like Ferrero Rocher, but even then, I don't have too much of it either. But I found the perfect alternative, and I think you will like it. It's those little precious delicacies from the family of Ferrero Rocher minus the chocolate.To summarize the sweet in the language of Raffaello public relation professionals, they are "crispy, creamy almond coconute treats with a whole crunchy almond surrounded by vanilla cream inside; while outside, the light, crispy wafer shell is covered with vanilla cream and sprinkled with coconut". Enough said, one of my favorite sweets ever. I kid you not when I say I can eat them like the way I eat popcorn. They can come packed in three just like how Ferrero Rochers are packed, or you can get them in a bag with a couple of them. I buy them in the bag because I'm a pig like that. The bag of delicious Raffaello costs 11$ at your local Pharmaprix stores. 

RayBans I think I've only worn RayBans sunglasses in my life, and by "in my life", I mean three years ago when I thought sunglasses were officially cool to wear outside of the beach environment. I own both the classic RayBan Wayfarers and their infamous RayBan Aviator shades. They're so old school, yet so modern at the same time. I find them really comfortable and I feel like I'm actually not wearing sunglasses at all. I don't know whether I'm a sucker for brands or for some other reasons, but I can't for the life of me get myself to wear any other kind or non-brand sunglasses that look exactly the same as the RayBans I currently own. I mean, I could easily save a lot more money, but I chose to spend that extra cash to wear the real deal, hence why this is a frivolous spending of money. Regardless, I wholeheartedly support the existance of RayBans eyewear 100%, despite their very inflated pricing. RayBans ranges from $120 to $300 depending on the style, and are available at SunglassHut.

Now, let's be interactive for a bit...what frivolous spending have *you* done lately? 

Answers on a postcard in the mail! 

:)

Today's Bananas Food: Rotisserie Romados

I take a lot of pleasure in devouring all kinds of meat. I feel no guilt whatsoever in stabbing my fork in some juicy filet mignon, fried pork chops and grilled tender chicken breast. I don't condemn the vegetarians or anything, I just personally don't believe in the point of denying oneself of the opportunity to take part in the degustation of animal meat. I mean, I guess Westerners allow themselves to "become" vegetarians just because food is not a commodity they are lacking of, so they can permit themselves to fight for the rights of animals that are perfectly edible which constitute a great part of human's diet. But enough about vegetarism, in fact this post is exactly about the opposite of vegetarism; it's about grilled chicken. Chicken is easily one of my favorite meat and I like it grilled, fried, slightly crispy, fumed, and all of parts of that fowl, legs, wings, breast and everything in between. Say what you want about Kentucky Fried Chicken, I love it, mutated chicken or not. 

So recently, a friend of mine introduced me to this relatively small Portuguese grillroom takeout restaurant called Rotisserie Romados located further down the Plateau of Montreal on Rachel. I've never heard of this portuguese gem before, and he warned me to be prepared to wait because the lineup can compete with the lineup for the launch of the iPhone. I kid you not. I had to wait nearly 50 minutes for my turn to order my plate of chicken. But that's because we did not call beforehand. When calling in advance, we can avoid the long non-reserved orders line, and only have to wait in the *second* line to pick up our orders. You don't necessarily skip the "waiting" part, there will be waiting involved, but the time in line is considerably less. So what is this fuss all about? Well to summarize, it's cheap, delicious, generous portuguese grilled chicken on charcoal. I cannot even describe to you how the chicken is grilled even though I saw the chicken being grilled right in front of my eyes. Look at the picture above, it is pretty self-explanatory. But the grilling part isn't the best part. When ordering a plate of 1/2 chicken, you get a very generous portion of chicken (you'd think you'd get 1/2 but sometimes you wonder if they didn't just give you a full chicken) glazed in a spicy sauce, a mountain portion of double fried pepper fries, and side of italian salad, and check this out, it is completely recession-friendly! Just a little under 8$! The food was excellent, the service was friendly and very appreciative of our business with them. The place is completely unpretentious, it's not cozy per se, but it's not "dirty" in all account. There are some available tables and seats to enjoy their delicious chicken in house, but most people take them for takeout. My experience was done in house since the weather that night was horrible, a combination of rain and wind. 

The downside of Rotisserie Romados is its location. It's in a very remote area of The Plateau and it's a far walk from the Metro, approximately 15 minutes away. Driving there shouldn't be much of a trouble if you know your way around Montreal. The waiting line is terribly horrendous during peak times when you decide to show up without an order reservation, especially when you are very hungry. I was ready to faint until I reached the counter my first time around. But once you are seated and ready to charge into your plate, the wait had suddenly become worthwhile and all that complaning you've done for the past 30 minutes or more with your friends felt like a waste of energy, saliva, and was essentially just useless noise pollution because waiting for that plate 1/2 chicken is definitely worth that wait. 

Here's my recommendation if you decide to try Rotisserie Romados:

• Call before going. I can't stress enough how calling will totally get your orders so much faster and you can save so much precious time.
  
• Ask your chicken to be glazed in spicy sauce. It's not actually really spicy, but it definitely gives a kick and gives a little bit more flavor to your portuguese chicken. 
• Do order 1/2 since getting just 1 leg or 1 breast is only a couple of cents less than 1/2 chicken. Don't fret that you have a small stomach and won't finish it. The plates are always already packed in a takeout plate, so you can simply close it and bring it home for later.
• For drinks, get one of their bottles of sprinkly soda in different exotic fruit flavors. It's a shame I can't recall what it's called, but it's not a drink from here, so among the pepsis and 7ups, you will spot that bottle with ease! 
• The restaurant offers steak also, but I have yet to try them, and I have yet to see someone actually having them. Don't bother, get the chicken!
• If you decide to show up without an order reservation during 7-8pm, and there is a long line, expect to maybe not have that 1/2 chicken you wanted. I was one of the few that got the last 1/2 chicken and there was still around 20 people behind by 8pm
  

I'm actually typing this post about chicken because I had to deprive myself of meat today because it's Good Friday. Upon the request of my parents, I had to stay from meat for the whole day. *sigh* But if you are not, this is a place to definitely check out! It's delicious and cheap, that's like the best combination *ever*.  Ask for their business card so that you can save their phone number at all time.

Rotisserie Romados, 115 Rachel Est corner de Bullion, considered by the locals as the *best grilled chicken in town*, call 514.849.1803 for your order reservations! 

Today's Bananas Reflection Quote

There is no such thing as strangers. Only friends we have not yet met. 

Today's Bananas Cool Thing: Lego Heart

I idolize Kanye West, I really do. Say what you want about his unbelievable self-confidence and cockiness, in my book, he's more than allowed to be so. He single-handedly resurrected the hip hop genre to a whole new level. He dares to push fashion limits and go beyond the stereotypical hip hop attire. He spits some pretty sick rhymes that I love to occassionally quote on my msn messenger profile name. Whenever he is featured on another artist's song, I will download and listen to it even if I depise the main singer. If ever Kanye West goes bankrupt and has to rap over a Miley Cirus song featured on Hannah Montana: The Sequel to make ends meet, I will like it. It is understated when I say that I truly find Kanye West *uber* cool. Besides his massive producing and rapping (let's not talk about the whole auto-tune era of his, it's just a phase..he will go back to rapping) talent, I think he's one of the most well-dressed man in the Entertainment industry. He take risks when he dresses down, or when he dresses up; in other words, he's not boring. And I like the fact that he's a hip hop artist that doesn't have to wear baggy jeans that go all the way to the knees, wear unicolor extra-large t-shirts, or even better, doesn't go shirtless all the time (anyone remember 50 cent? ..right). When Marc Jacobs offers you to design a special limited collection of Louis Vuitton sneakers, you *know* you did something right. Bottom line, he's a very inspiring fashion icon, in my honest opinion, which leads to the main point of this post. Not too long ago, I saw a picture (the one above) of Kanye West during Paris Fashion Week. He wore a pretty casual outfit, but what intrigued me was the heart-shaped brooch he wore on his jeans jacket. Turns out, this heart-shaped brooch is actually a heart pin constructed in Lego. Not that I'm easily impressed, but I was quite fascinated about it. 

The Lego heart brooch in question is designed by a duo named Dee and Ricky who was offered by Marc Jacobs to style his models for his spring runway show with their collection of Lego-made belts. And from this little fashion gig, the duo's line of Lego accessories officially made big waves among the the young Hollywood, and of course Kanye West. But I must warn you, these heart-shaped Lego do not come cheap, oh no. If you visit Dee and Ricky's official website where they sell their Lego heart brooches, a small one can cost you a whopping 75 US *dolla* (add the little fob chinese NYC Canal Street-style accent)! And a larger heart is tagged at an inflationary price of US$100. Last time I checked, it's already $100 too much for Legos. *But*, insane and borderline daylight robbery-pricing aside, the Lego brooches are very charming, and you can see that the quality and the neatness of it is commandable on the side of the designers. So I know that no one in their right mind, well, no one with a modest income, in their right mind will order one of these trendy accessories; hence why I did a little bit of research which can offer you the same opportunity to own a Lego heart brooch like Kanye West at a normal person price. Why? Because I want share the love with my peeps. 

First Method: Make it yourself!

You know the good old saying: Why have someone do, something you can do yourself? In other words, you can make your own heart Lego pin for a mere estimated cost of $2.06 via Lego.com. All you need to do is order the necessary lego blocks needed through the website, and buy a pin and some crazy glue to attach the pin to the heart, and voila!

You will need to order:

Two: Bricks 2x2

Two: Brick 1x2

Four: Roof tile 2x2/45 degrees 

Two: Brick 2x4

Six: Roof title 2x2/45 deg. Inv.

Don't fuss, if you don't know what to do with the Lego blocks once you received them, it is pretty clear on how each block goes on top of another. Play around with it just so that the Lego blocks form into a heart. Glue your pin to the back of the heart-shaped Lego and there you have it! Make as many as you want and use as many colors as you desire! A cool and thoughtful gift if you don't necessarily want to wear it yourself.

Second Method: Buy ('cause I suck in arts&crafts)

I'm not referring to the Dee and Ricky original ones, but rather replicas of them. Not everyone is born into creativity, or even know how to use Lego blocks, so let us not judge ourselves on that fact. The next best alternative is to buy one at a very discounted price compared to Dee and Ricky's. Take into consideration that they provide the Lego blocks and the time and effort into building it. On ebay, there's a store called Creation Depot and they sell a bunch of homemade stuffs including the heart-shaped Lego pins. They are charging $16.95 for a small one and $24.95 for a big one. It's not completely out of this world in terms of the pricing, so if you have some extra cash and you don't want to dirty your hands, they are a legit seller to go to. I am sure you can find a better deal elsewhere on the internet or ebay, but I'm suggesting Creation Depot just because it seems more reliable. 

On that note, I'm in no position to dictate what's cool and what's not, but I definitely find these new little thing to be exceptionally cool. The hearts can either be in full or broken for those pessimist ones. So, go ahead, either check out Lego.com to buy some blocks to make them yourself, or go to Creative Depot where you can buy already-made ones, or even over at Dee and Ricky if you find "replicas" to be offensive to your nature. Actually, I do recommend to go look at the original work of Dee and Ricky and see the cool things they can do. (I really like the multicolored Lego heart pin one). 

peace and love, y'all!

Today's Bananas Photo: You Can Buy School, But You Can't Buy Class

I love a good interweb photo of celebrities in their least favorable light; TMZ is the perfect source for them. Now, I've stumbled upon this photo of a well-recognized Hollywood actor that has been circulating on blogs and celebrity gossip websites alike. You might recognize him in action flicks like Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3, as well as Pineapple Express or perhaps, in more serious drama like Milk. Yes, we're talking about James Franco. And yes, we're talking about James Franco enjoying a nap while pursuing his quest for higher education at the prestigious Ivy League school Columbia Univeristy in New York. 

I mean, sure, you can't blame the lad for taking a nap during a lecture, I know I can't since I'm the empitomy of sleeping in class. We've all done it. Besides, with such an acclaimed and Golden Globe-nominated performance as the stoner Saul in Pineapple Express, I'm sure he will have no trouble "acting" his way through for an A in that class. 

Ahh..the life of the rich and famous.

Cheers.

Today's Bananas Video: Signs

Sometimes, emotions do not need to be spoken out loud. This 12-minute short-film does exactly that. An emotional rollercoaster expressed only in silence and signs. Enjoy.