My name is Sean, and I am double majoring in chemical engineering and mathematics. I enjoy mathematics and computations, and the engineering program marries these two very well, while the mathematics program introduces a theoretical side. I hope to learn enough about mathematical modeling and refinery operations to become a financial forecaster for crude training.
Favorite Foods:
My favorite food of all time is the szechuan chicken with hot chile oil from a restaurant in my hometown called Szechuans. But other great foods include: gumbo, steak, and kettle chips. I had the chance to intern at ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where I consumed a large amount of cajun food. I had gumbo 3-4 times per week and while there are many kinds of gumbo, the best is by far chicken and sausage.
Free Time:
In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer, running, and racquetball. Soccer is a sport I've played for the past 15-16 years, and I've played for many teams including intramural and club teams. By far though, playing for my high school was the best. I enjoyed playing in front of friends and on the field with the bright lights. However, intramural is also enjoyable because I get to play in a relaxed setting with my friends as well. As per running, I enjoy running without a phone and outdoors. It's what I consider to be my only free time away from technology. Finally, I enjoy playing racquetball because of the fast-paced nature of the game. I try to run 3-4 times per week, and play soccer and racquetball on the weekends.
Hobbies:
Sometimes I wonder if I took the wrong major, because I enjoy reading about financial news such as the '08 recession, or options pricing. I am by no means a trader or investor for money (I'd probably lose it all quickly), but I find the way that banks and computers have made packages to increase their profits to be amazing. It's an litany of intelligent people working against other smart people and the rest of the world trying to maximize profits. In addition to financial news, I enjoy playing guitar hero and learning new soups to cook. I choose soups because its kinda hard to mess up a soup. Worst comes to worse, I just add more water and salt.
Overall, I am excited for the class, and I am very excited to learn more about Indian Epics!
Favorite Foods:
My favorite food of all time is the szechuan chicken with hot chile oil from a restaurant in my hometown called Szechuans. But other great foods include: gumbo, steak, and kettle chips. I had the chance to intern at ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where I consumed a large amount of cajun food. I had gumbo 3-4 times per week and while there are many kinds of gumbo, the best is by far chicken and sausage.
Free Time:
In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer, running, and racquetball. Soccer is a sport I've played for the past 15-16 years, and I've played for many teams including intramural and club teams. By far though, playing for my high school was the best. I enjoyed playing in front of friends and on the field with the bright lights. However, intramural is also enjoyable because I get to play in a relaxed setting with my friends as well. As per running, I enjoy running without a phone and outdoors. It's what I consider to be my only free time away from technology. Finally, I enjoy playing racquetball because of the fast-paced nature of the game. I try to run 3-4 times per week, and play soccer and racquetball on the weekends.
Hobbies:
Sometimes I wonder if I took the wrong major, because I enjoy reading about financial news such as the '08 recession, or options pricing. I am by no means a trader or investor for money (I'd probably lose it all quickly), but I find the way that banks and computers have made packages to increase their profits to be amazing. It's an litany of intelligent people working against other smart people and the rest of the world trying to maximize profits. In addition to financial news, I enjoy playing guitar hero and learning new soups to cook. I choose soups because its kinda hard to mess up a soup. Worst comes to worse, I just add more water and salt.
Overall, I am excited for the class, and I am very excited to learn more about Indian Epics!
A graph of stock prices vs. time. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Hi Sean! I enjoyed reading your introduction. I see that you are a fan of Cajun foods, as am I. I agree that chicken and sausage gumbo is delicious. As far as Cajun food is concerned, I also enjoy Cajun seafood dishes. I find it interesting that you are interested in sports. Exercising and running are some of my favorite stress relievers as well. Best of luck with the class! -Andy
ReplyDeleteI am in total agreement about soups, Sean! That is one thing I will cook without fear, ha ha. And about guitar-hero: music is a huge part of the Indian tradition of course, and keep an eye out for Ravana-as-musician in the Ramayana. He may be the villain but he was a serious player of the veena, and even had the veena as the symbol on his flag in battle! Sometimes you can see sculptures of him playing the veena where one of his heads is used to make the instrument: Ravana with veena. Veena-villain, ha ha. :-)
ReplyDeleteHey Sean!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your introduction, I’m actually a Mechanical Engineer so we are in the same college! But I too enjoy working out or the little amount of free time I have away from technology since we use it so much during the week. I for sure agree that sausage gumbo is the best, and only other Cajun dish that steps close to it for me is jambalaya. Good Luck in your classes!
-Drew
Hi Sean,
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of Chinese food as well! Food buddies?!
I see that you've intern'd at a great company, I hope to find one here before I graduate and gain more knowledge about what I want to do. I also enjoy racquetball because it is a great stress reliever. I see that we have many things in common! Hope you have a great experience with the rest of what this class holds for us!
Hi Sean! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your introduction. My brother works for Exxon and most of my family is from Louisiana. I was born and raised on gumbo, crayfish, and what not. I actually do some research on the stock market as well. The film the Big Short got me into it, although most of my research is on calls. Anyways, all the best on the many things you do.
ReplyDeleteHey Sean,
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool that you are a double major. I bet that keeps you extremely busy considering how hard your majors are, but it will definitely pay off for you in the long run especially getting into the oil business. I know a lot of people personally how have done well there. For me being an economics major I am also very interested what is going on in the world financially.
Hi Sean, I am so happy to see another soccer lover in this class! I played for many years as well, and I have played in a few intramural games with my sorority too. Last semester I took soccer as an elective and it was the most fun I have had so far in any class. If you have time in your schedule next semester, I highly encourage you to check it out because it truly is a blast. I wish you the best this semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Sean,
ReplyDeleteIt's cool that you play soccer! I really enjoy watching soccer. Finances are integrated into every discipline, so it's good that you enjoy learning about them! I'm also a fan of guitar hero, my favorite song to play is probably Hotel California. One can't go wrong with the classics. Mathematical modeling sounds epic. I hope you have a great semester and enjoy your classes!
Hey Sean! It's awesome that you're interested in finance. As someone who studies global energy security as a social science, I wish I had a better understanding of the financial aspect of it. While people may think that because you're a mathematician, you just look at models and numbers, but those models and numbers translate over to real life assets, trade, and people and that gives you a level of social, political, and economic analysis that makes you a great asset to any company. I don't know if this is something you would be interested in spending a little bit of time researching, but something that has always interested me is the impact of the financialization of the U.S. economy on the lay people who can not access the exclusive world of finance because they aren't educated to do so. As finance now accounts for about 20 percent of the U.S.'s GDP, it would be interesting to see a model that shows the relationship between the growth of the finance sector and income inequality.
ReplyDeleteHey Sean! I definitely agree with your list of favorite foods – steak, gumbo, and kettle chips are great. I recently discovered Jalapeno kettle chips, and I think they’re my current favorite. I’m also pretty interested in the types of soup you’ve made. Have you ever tried making gumbo? Was it comparable to the gumbo you tried in Baton Rouge? Anyway, best of luck this semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Sean,
ReplyDeleteYour major sounds difficult because some of my friends are also majoring in chemical engineering but I know they love it too. Seems like you like spicy food along with lots of flavor. You should try Indian good for sure, I think you will really like it. I really like racquetball, I go to the huff and play every week.
Hello Sean! Chemical Engineering and mathematics double major huh? Kind of makes me wish I didn't leave STEM lol. I used to be an Astrophysics major myself. I switched to philosophy which, quite literally, uses the opposite end of the brain lol. I feel I've made a good decision though. Anyways, chicken and sausage gumbo sounds really amazing. I would love that.
ReplyDeleteHi Sean! I'm glad there are people like you in the world that understand math and stock markets. It's interesting that you're interested in the theoretical side of math. There is a VR technology at the innovation hub that lets students test math theorems on 3D models. That might be something of interest to you. Congrats on your past internship with Exxon and I wish you the best for this semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Sean!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet a fellow engineering major. Good luck with the double major. It sounds brutal. I agree, jumbo is really good, my favorite is sausage and shrimp. Yummy for the tummy! You chose an interesting graphic, you can see the dot com bubble in 2001 and the 2008 crash. When I look at something like that I get why you are interested in finance.
Hi Sean! I've never had gumbo, but I have been to Louisiana many many times! My favorite restaurant there is called Shane's and it has the most amazing cajun chicken fettuccine that I have ever had the pleasure to eat. I am not that much into math, but my mom is a statistician so I can understand the appeal of it. It is cool that you are interested in theoretical mathematics (something I can barely comprehend) and that you are taking this class! It would be super cool to see if you could pull some of the elements from those classes into your stories, although I am not sure how it would work!
ReplyDeleteHi Sean! I am a huge fan of Gumbo, my grandma makes it every winter and it is so good! I bet living in Baton Rouge you were able to try all sorts of cool foods. Also congrats on that internship, thats an awesome company to work for! That is awesome you are a runner, i wish i was but it has never been something i have been able to do or have enjoyed unfortunately. Best of luck with your semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Sean! I am glad I got to know more about you after reading your introduction blog post! It’s awesome that you are double majoring in chemical engineering and mathematics! I know I can’t because I know that’s a lot of workload for myself! Dude, food is always the best thing to have in our daily lives. However, I don’t think I ever had gumbo before. Overall, I hope you have a wonderful, successful semester!
ReplyDeleteHey Sean! Majoring in either one of those would be a workload, but double majoring?? That's a lot! I think dabbling with the stock market is some serious fun! I use an app called Robinhood that allows me to trade without paying commissions! So essentially, it's free to use and super fun! I like the food choices! Earlier this year, my wife and I were in Louisiana and of course we had to sop and get some gumbo!
ReplyDeleteHi Sean! I think your major is amazing. Although I think they often can be challenging, math and chemical engineering have so much real life applications. I love Szechuan chicken too! It’s one of my favorite Chinese dishes. I perhaps eat the chicken at least once every week. I like all the foods you described. I like your intellectual hobbies. It’s nice to meet you Sean!
ReplyDeleteHey Sean! I enjoyed reading your introduction! It's so cool that you are double majoring in chemical engineering and mathematics. Also, it's awesome that you got to intern in Louisiana and got to try the food there. I never had gumbo, but it seems like I need to try it out. I hope the rest of your semester goes well! Good luck!
ReplyDelete