bookcase

I went to IKEA today in search of a sofa, coffee table, TV table, dresser, a desk lamp, shelves, random kitchen stuff, and another chair. I only got the TV table, shelves, random kitchen stuff, and the chair, but that's probably a good thing. My car was completely full. Miraculously I played tetris with the boxes and got everything to fit. I could even see out my back window and my side mirrors.

Anyway, it's all assembled. I just need to new TV to show up and perhaps get cable. Oh... and get the sofa, dresser, and coffee table.

New bookcase is built and loaded, meaning that I have yet another room that is almost *complete*. I got a fancy looking one. 16 cubes in a 4x4 arrangement. It was actually interesting to build. Very repetitive, which is great for later in the evening.

Top row - Personal stuff:
1 - Good books worth re-reading + my queue (2 books... one that I've started... over half a year ago)
2 - Books that I've read (or planned to read) that are "meh"
3 - History (history books, yearbooks and the like)
4 - Travel and language

Second row - professional stuff:
1 - Good readable books + queue (10 books, 3 that I've "started")
2 - Good useful books
3 - Good but irrelevant books, or relevant books that suck that I keep "just in case" [someone throws some meaningless marketing term that I've blocked out of my memory]
4 - Dated, irrelevant, or otherwise dead to me

Third row - TBD
1,2 - empty
3 - records that aren't in my file. why is it on paper anyway?
4 - misc. Yale stuff

Fourth row - Class materials
1 - Useful stuff from CMU, and random stuff from training at PGR
2 - The good stuff from Yale
3,4 - The good but irrelevant, or relevant but not good stuff from Yale

great weekend... till now?

Karaoke
Brunch in Jamaica Plain
Samuel Adams Brewery tour
Bowling
Awesome Red Sox game at Fenway
Helped SOM/FES win the IM Ultimate Frisbee Championship
Ice Cream Social

Now I need to write a paper or two. Damn.

the best of times, the worst of times

The worst day this week - Monday:
8:30 - Wake up
9:30 -10:30 - Start preparing for 10:30 Negotiations meeting
10:30 -11:30 - Negotiations meeting
11:30 - 1:00 - Student Government meeting
1:00 - 2:20 - Class - Behavioral Perspectives on Management
2:40 - 4:00 - Class - Consumer Behavior
4:10 - 7:10 - Class - Negotiations
7:30 - 2:00 - Yearbook
and an 8:15 class the following morning!

Best day this week - Thursday:
7:45 - Wake up
8:15 - 9:35 - Class - Product Planning and Development
10:00 - 11:00 - Gym
11:00 - 1:30 - Football, frisbee, then more football in the courtyard, bid on items in the Internship Fund Auction
1:30 - 2:20 - Free good Indian food in the Hall of Mirrors
2:40 - 6:00 - Class - Strategic Leadership Across Sectors with CEOs from Blackstone, MBIA, and Webster Bank, plus others from Charlesbank, Credit Suisse, and ex-SEC chairman/SOM Dean Donaldson
6:00 - Haircut and change of clothes for the Internship Fund Auction
7:00 - Hang out with the guys in our apartment building's courtyard
7:30 - Show up at the auction
2:00 - Go home
and I needed to be at SOM at 9am today!

And now, I'm off to the FOURTH Study Group Celebratory dinner, a late celebration for Mamoun's offer at American Express!

to do

1. Take fewer than seven classes in my last half-semester of business school
2. Stop buying books that I don't have time to read
3. Shave off that ridiculous facial hair
   

oh, hello

It's been a while. I suppose you can say that I've been busy. You can also say that I've been chilling out a lot. It's really a bit of both.

I've been busy:

• Taking 5 classes right now
• Doing my bit as the leader for the Technology Club
• Doing my bit as the head of the Academic Committee for Student Government
• Did my bit as the coordinator for the SOM blog
• Spending a bit of time talking to people about careers at Microsoft
• Being an SYA (second year advisor) for the Leadership Development Program
• Spending a bit of time helping people with resumes and cover letters
• Actually getting around to working out a few times a week

I've been chillin:

• Actually getting around to working out a few times a week
• Spending lots of quality time with the study group
• Lots of hanging out

So details... classes are going well. It's surprising because the classes that I thought would be the worst are the classes that I feel like I'm getting the most out of while the classes that are supposed to be great I'm finding mediocre. You could interpret this however you want. I'll say that there's something for everyone and maybe in the future I should just pick classes that people don't like. I know I like my stuff much much much more abstract than most people and much much much faster paced than most.

Overall, my month back at business school has been fun. Lots of socializing with both the first year class and the second year class. It's also nice because everything I'm doing now is stuff that I want to do. I'm still busy, but I like how it at least *feels* like I have command of what really needs to be done. And yes, having a job certain helps. I finally accepted my offer to return to Microsoft, so expect to see many more hiking photos in the future!

My plans for today? Maybe go over to the soccer fields to see the Yale SOM soccer tournament, head over to East Rock Park to play some Ultimate frisbee, have some dinner with friends (time, location, and friends TBD), then head over to Playwright's for the post-soccer-tournament get-together. Hopefully I'll see some of the people that I met over the summer from CMU and HBS there. We shall see...

ow

I wonder when school starts...

live from seattle

The long awaited rambling update... I promise that it will be disjoint and random. If the paragraph bores you, skip it and move on to the next one.

So right now I'm at work. I arrived in Seattle on Sunday, May 27 and I spent a few days hanging out in Seattle before starting work on Wednesday.

Working in my office is kind of like working in the Hall of Mirrors at SOM. I share the office with someone, which is fine with me, considering that at Progressive I didn't have much personal space to myself, though I do admit that I enjoyed hanging out with Steve and Colleen for many hours each day. The reason my office reminds me of the Hall of Mirrors is that usually it's relatively quiet, but there is a fair amount of traffic. Then about once or twice a day there's a loud gathering somewhere near here that's loud as hell. But it's OK. I'm used to working in the Hall of Mirrors. Only issue is that I am still in the habit of leaving my iPod in the car. I need to change my ways... especially with the amount of research that I'm doing.

So what am I doing? I'm trying to come up with a vision for a product. Right now it's a lot of competitive analysis - going and looking at different competitors' offerings and capabilities. I'll also be looking into trends both from a user standpoint as well as from a technology standpoint. It's very much like the sort of thing I did when I was doing research for my Comp Strat paper, so I feel like I'm pretty prepared for it. The only "issue" is that there is so much material internally to review that it's a bit overwhelming. I think I'm getting a pretty good handle on it though. I'm going to spend the next day digesting what's here, creating my own stuff, and then I'll reach out to a few more people to get some more brain dumps from people involved in two other affiliated projects. Good times.

So my apartment. Yes, I promised I would jump around a bit. My apartment is sweet. I'm sharing a 2BR with another intern in downtown Seattle. Heavily subsidized by Microsoft. We get a fantastic view of Elliot Bay and downtown Seattle. On a clear day I can see Mt. Rainier from my bedroom. Awesome. I'll put up some photos shortly so you can see for yourself. Better yet, drop by for a visit. We have a couch and plenty of floorspace. The other great thing about the apartment is that it's close to a bunch of stuff. I'm within a 5 minute walk of the Pike Place Market, which is a great place to pick up groceries (and flowers). I can get everything from produce, meats, milk, cheese, fresh bread, to asian and latino groceries. There are also a ton of little eateries around the market, from oysters to russian to chinese to greek to turkish. Good stuff!

The only two drawbacks to where I live: it's far from good greenspace and the commute kind of sucks. It takes 8 minutes to get to the highway in the morning. It can take over an hour to get home in the evening if there is a Mariners home game. I'll need to figure something out. Maybe I'll take the bus those days.

Oh yes. We get free bus passes for working here. I like.

You know another thing I like? The cafeteria here. Today I had Indian food and sushi. Granted, it's not the best quality I've ever had, but it's passable. Plus it offers variety. The only problem is that it seems like I want the Indian food every day. I have this bad feeling that I'm going to overdo it like we did Aladdin at SOM. Wish me luck. I intentionally got something else yesterday just for a break. The good thing is that they mix up what dishes they have each day. So is it really repeating?

So social stuff. It's been cool hanging out with the mix of people that I know here. High school people, b-school people, and Microsoft people. Give me a few weeks and I'll mix in some other peeps that I know here (from CMU and other).

My car. Ross and I have formed an alliance. An alliance to work on our cars. We both own 4th generation Honda Accords. He has the local knowledge. I have the tools and experience doing random stuff with my car. It will be fun. We will save enormous amounts of money. I'll probably save $300+ doing the radiator by myself. $100+ for the oxygen sensor. Driveshaft I may wait till I'm back in Cleveland. Ross will likely save a ton on his car as well. I like.

So what did I miss.... Photos! I just got internet access yesterday at home. I'll try to start uploading some stuff in the next few days. Not just so that you all can see pics from the cross country trip, but also so I can take more photos. I think I almost managed to completely fill 12GB worth of memory cards.

Oh yeah... I got invited to a party at Bill Gates' place. I hear he has a nice house.

So so far:
7 sunny days
2 rainy days
Had Japanese, Russian, Mediterranean, Mexican food.

update

It feels like it's been forever, but I guess it's only been a week since my last post. An update on things.

School is almost done for the year. It's flown by incredibly quickly, and I'm happy about how I've been able to establish many very close friends here at SOM. While there is the occassional overly dramatic (probably staged) fits of jealously between the two groups, it's good. As I've been saying a lot recently, "I like food." Let's just say that my "work" groups at school have become somewhat food oriented, which is totally cool with me. Only issue is that so far I've only made contributions to one group while offering very little in return to the other. Seriously, things would be different if it wasn't for the vegetarianism. Chinese food isn't exactly vegetarian friendly. I'll think of something...

Despite how awesome school is (weird), I'm really looking forward to the summer. I've got my dream job out in Seattle working for Microsoft, and I'll also be taking advantage of the wonderful excuse to drive across the country... TWICE.

Trip 1: New Haven, CT to Seattle, WA
We'll cover 21 states and DC in this trip - Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington. States I haven't been to before are marked in bold.

Also amazing is that I'll be able to visit a few friends on the way. TC and Darin in DC, some of my Cleveland peeps in Cleveland, Scott in Houston, Ly Ann in Austin, Steven in Arizona. Unfortunately I'll be missing Peter in San Fran. And of course Patrick. He'll be along for the entire ride.

So what will we see? A quick rundown of sights, big and small. The George Washington Bridge, The Garden State Parkway (I hate NJ), Washington DC, Old Town Alexandria, PA Turnpike, Breezewood, Pittsburgh, CMU, Boulevard of the Allies, the mile-long GM plant at Lordstown, the crazy OH highway patrol, Chinese food in Cleveland, the steel mills in the Cuyahoga Valley (which we talked about in Employee class - Mittal Steel), Skyline Chili in Cincinnati maybe?, the red highways of Alabama (if they're still red), New Orleans, French Quarter, Garden District, Houston, Astros game, Austin, West Texas, most of Arizona and New Mexico, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, maybe Canyon de Chelley, maybe Monument Valley, the Extraterrestrial Highway (at night!), Yosemite, San Francisco, Pacific Coast Highway, Mt. St. Helens, Seattle, In-N-Out burgers at some point, Jack in the Box at some point, Broadway perhaps, Pike Place Market, the original Starbucks, West Seattle. Good times!

Trip 2: Seattle, WA to Boston, MA to New Haven, CT
Why Boston? So that I can drive the entire length of I-90 in one trip. Why? Because I can. I'll start at the western tip by the Alaskan Way, and end by Logan Airport in Boston. I'll probably stop at Billings, MT; Rochester, MN; Cleveland, OH and Boston, MA. I'll be back just in time for Orientation where I'll be an SYA. I'll be visiting states in this trip - Washington, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, maybe Rhode Island, and Connecticut. 31 states for the round trip. At the end of this trip, the only states I would be missing are North Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas.

We have been through a lot together.

Oh yeah... almost forgot about Welcome Weekend. It was awesome. Beautiful weather, tons of activities. Nothing like going from the club fair to playing sports to studying while having Cava to helping announce a hockey game. Yes. Announce a hockey game. Seriously, the opportunities here at Yale are limitless.

hell week

I'm taking a little break. Basically, I've already put in a 44 hour week. And no, that's not including the 15+ hours today. I guess if that's included, then I've done about 59 hours of stuff so far this week. Over the hump.

So why? I've been spending a ton of time on Student Government this week. We're transitioning to the next year's officers these weeks, and we also had some preparation work to do for a meeting with Yale SOM's Board of Advisors. I've also been putting in about 3 hours a day working on the Yearbook, which should be completed within the next day. On top of that, I've also got a simulation to work on for one of my classes and two cases to write up for this week. In other words, I've been busy. The good thing is that I'm still being social... that is, I'm still talking to people.

good times

April looks like it will be a good month.

We had three parties this weekend (of which I went to one). Tons of sports going on. I played Bocce at happy hour on Thursday, and I’m about to head over to the fields for the first football/soccer game of the spring. Plus there was an ultimate frisbee game yesterday that I missed plus a softball game today which I’ll also miss. Plus, April Foolery is upon us - activities for every day of the month. Check out what’s in store for the month here.

Good times.

Overall, people are pretty laid back now too, which is a plus. I’ve still been spending a ton of time at school, but it’s mostly been split between working on the Yearbook and spending time with friends doing nothing. Not too bad.

And Spring Break was fantastic. You can check out my Morocco photos on flickr.

last exam before break

I'm here sitting in classroom A53, ready to take my last final exam for Spring-1. It's hard to believe that after this, I'll be 3/8 done with my MBA experience.

The last half semester has flown by very quickly, as it seems like only a few weeks ago we came back from winter break. It's been a crazy, but good semester that included the final set of core "perspectives," the crazy job search, and also more of the usual antics that make up life at business school. Although it's been a great semester with a lot of positive developments, it's good to see it come to a close. Next semester should be a good shift for me, with a lighter course-load that would allow me spend more time working out, doing extracurriculars (like Yearbook!), and maybe even catching up on a few things outside of school.

Also, with today being the last exam, it's finally settling in that I'll be leaving for Morocco tomorrow for a spring break trip! It's funny how I seem to have been thinking more of summer in Seattle than spring break in Morocco. Now that it's upon me, I'm definitely looking forward to it. All I need to do is to get this final exam over with... and pack. (-:

my plans for the summer = microsoft's plans for the summer

Apologies to those I haven't informed personally about the news. It's been a crazy few weeks.

Quick summary:
Feb 15 - Feb 16: Setting up interviews with Microsoft
Feb 17 - Feb 19: Getting "ahead" with schoolwork, prepping as much as I can
Feb 20 - Feb 23: Travel/Interviews with the Office team and Windows Live team
Feb 24 - Feb 25: Attempting to return to New Haven
Feb 26: Return to New Haven
Feb 27: Attempt to keep up/catch up/work ahead (still not sure where I am)
Feb 27 - today: Get sick, stay sick, rest, drink lots of fluids

But anyway... about the job... I'll be interning with Microsoft as a Product Planner. What does that mean? Instead of writing out something from my perspective, here's a summary from someone who's done it as an intern.

And did I mention that the job is in Seattle?

Not to mention what's right by Seattle (not the girl... she's in Florida d-: )

stranded

My flight was to leave an hour ago, and I'm still in Ross' place entering a blog entry. No, I didn't miss my flight. I was there three hours ahead of schedule. My flight was canceled.

Four hours later, after spending a full two hours on hold with American Express travel services, renting another car from Avis, and driving back to Ross' place, I finally have arrangements to get back to New Haven. It was no easy feat either. I was on hold for about 45 minutes at the airport, which was getting to the limits of my phone's now crappy battery. I should really get a new one. Three times this week I've dropped calls because my phone's battery crapped out on me.

Anyway, thanks to my handy charger, I was able to stay on the line with them for well over an hour, finally getting in touch with someone who was able to get me on a flight to White Plains, NY through Charlotte, NC. Nothing like going through five states on this trip. Awesome.

I'll be back in New Haven at about 1:00pm on Monday.

cross-post, from seattle

This is a post that's going up elsewhere on another blog that I'm doing for the admissions office at Yale. Yes, I will continue to create unique content for this site. Exclusive content will include rants, stuff about my car, random links, and anything else that's either irrelevant, or unrelated to school.

--------------------------------

Today I am writing from a hotel room in Seattle, Washington where I have two days of interviews this week. I arrived here Tuesday evening and I spent most of yesterday (about 6 hours) interviewing for one position at the company. Today I get a day off where I’ll spend most of the time either here in my hotel working, or across the street working in Seattle’s fancy new public library. I’ve visited Seattle the last three summers so I’m OK with spending most of the day as a recluse, and then spending the evenings hanging out with friends of mine who live here. Tomorrow, I have another big day of interviews beginning at 11:00am. I’ll be staying here for until Saturday night when I take the redeye flight back east.

As someone interested in a marketing position, I had most of my interviews in mid-January, and right now I am in the middle of wrapping up this entire operation. I have already received a very good offer from one company, and I am in the process of completing second round interviews for a second.

The whole recruiting process has been pretty crazy, and I’m looking forward to the end, which is approaching very quickly. Looking for a job is almost a job in itself and it’s been a challenge balancing my job search with academics and extracurricular activities. Granted, I feel that I’ve been able to get everything done and still manage to sleep 4+ hours each night, but I really am looking forward to a lighter load in a few weeks when Spring-2 (the second half of the spring semester starts). Looking forward to a lighter course-load (one less class), not have to worry about my job search, and more opportunities to do things outside.

Until then, I still need to focus on the here and now - meaning classes, and more importantly, my interviews on Friday. Wish me luck!

maya

Ah... the international experience at SOM.

as featured in the international herald tribune

My name is now being published across the world, thanks to the syndicated press and the power of the AP. You don't want to mess with these guys.

I like the International Herald Tribune, you here's a link to it:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/22/business/NA_FIN_US_Yale_Changing_MBAs.php

almost there

5 page paper in 2 hours. I'll proofread tomorrow. Another 5 hours of exams, and I'm off to Cleveland. Wish me luck!

moving forward

So I'm done with classes, and I'm about to turn in the final paper for the competitor class.

My schedule for the upcoming weeks:
12/18 - 12/21 - Exams
12/21 or 12/22 - Return to Cleveland
12/22 - 12/28 - Hang out with Cleveland peeps, watch Rocky Balboa, what will be best feel-good holiday movie EVER!
12/27 - Hang out with prospective students (and Laura) at Great Lakes Brewery
12/28 - Hang out with prospective students at the Irish Embassy in Toronto (it's a bar)
12/31 - New Year's Eve in NYC (exactly where is TBD)
12/5 - Leave for Costa Rica
12/19 - Return from Costa Rica

Other things to do? Research more jobs. Practice interviews. Send Thank You e-mails. Get a suit. Buy Christmas presents. Send out cards? Plan the Costa Rica trip. Send out a job survey to the class. Do other club related stuff. Read the WSJ. Buy a book and read it.

it's september

Right now I'm sitting outside in the courtyard at school in the sun, putting in another blog entry. And yes, I'm writing about the weather. It's a beautiful today. About 60F... sunny... Feel like it's September. I already thought it was weird because the last few days have felt like October.

Maybe that's why it doesn't feel like my first semester here is about to come to a close. And maybe that's why I still haven't gotten anxious about the paper that I have to turn in tomorrow as a final exam for my Competitor class. I haven't started writing anything out, but at least I've read over the materials, analyzed it from several perspectives, and know what I'll be writing about. That's the hard part. The writing part should be relatively easy (or so I say now). Regardless of how painful/painless it is, at least I know that I am comfortable with the material. Better to know what you're doing and have trouble condensing it into 3 pages than not having enough to fill the three pages.

Anyway, I should finish up and get to something else, such as getting back in touch with Cleveland people about my return over the holiday week. And I have this funny suspicion that Progressive's mail filters are blocking my e-mails... hrm.......

what are the odds...

That the person on Progressive's Board of Directors that I presented to when I was in Ohio...

Is the same person as the step-mom of the person who hired my friend as an au pair from New Zealand...

Is the same person that I get to watch a video on, and write a paper on for a class' final exam?

All in the same year. As Patrick would say, what are the odds?