In the last few days, I said goodbye to two of my best friends at the GSB. I'm not very good at saying goodbyes. It's basically take care, I hope to see you in Hong Kong or your city. How lame. Yet I can't find the right words to say. Oh well. Goodbye it is. I'm sure we will all meet again.
Lately I've been wondering about the significance of a successful career. Why is that such a center piece of my (or your) life? What if you make some concessions and you can end up happily with friends and family but lose a little bit on the career side? My MBA training plus a self-fulfilling prophecy means that I will be biased for the importance of career. Let the record show that I do care about my job a lot and I want to do great and progress well in my career. No doubt about it.
Yet in the back of my head is the voice that says I can enjoy life just as much (if not better) if I am willing to sacrifice some prestige, some money, some status...
Maybe it's the effects of Amsterdam. Not. Ibiza was a lot of fun... and Amsterdam might be the only place that can possibly top it. I also sandwiched a wedding in Brussels during my stay in Amsterdam. No pictures due to Western Europe's reluctance in supporting good technology (i.e. WIFI). But they will come, just like they've come for all the other countries!
Count
7/31/2007
7/27/2007
Travel updates...
I'm in Ibiza now...
But my homepage (www.josekin.com) is fully functional now with lots of dots updated. Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Austria are all full with details. Germany is a work in progress. Ibiza will be up soon. And we're flying to Amsterdam in about 5 hours.
But my homepage (www.josekin.com) is fully functional now with lots of dots updated. Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Austria are all full with details. Germany is a work in progress. Ibiza will be up soon. And we're flying to Amsterdam in about 5 hours.
7/24/2007
My Dry Day
Wow, I used Y in all three words in my title... which is a problem since the Austrian keyboard apparently has Y and Z reversed. I had no idea I typed Y so much!
Anzwaz, here are some important updates... mz website has been updated with a lot of dots. (Trz http://www.josekin.com/) Mz travel log in Peru is almost done. Need to upload a large amount of pictures to it but wireless connections have been kind of suckz. The page might take some time to load, but it'll get there as long as zou reload once or twice (and hez, sometimes it works great!)
Okaz, must type right now... fun while it lasted. Had to keep asking my finger not to hit backspace. It's so instinctive to do it.
I made some quick picture albums for Copenhagen, Malmo, Helsinki, the three Scandivanian cities. The travel log for those countries are actuallz completed, but I haven't had time to combine the pictures to the albums and also upload into Picasa. St. Petersburg, as zou can see, is a work in progress (LOL), and I haven't gotten to the other cities zet.
Anzwaz, here are some important updates... mz website has been updated with a lot of dots. (Trz http://www.josekin.com/) Mz travel log in Peru is almost done. Need to upload a large amount of pictures to it but wireless connections have been kind of suckz. The page might take some time to load, but it'll get there as long as zou reload once or twice (and hez, sometimes it works great!)
Okaz, must type right now... fun while it lasted. Had to keep asking my finger not to hit backspace. It's so instinctive to do it.
I made some quick picture albums for Copenhagen, Malmo, Helsinki, the three Scandivanian cities. The travel log for those countries are actuallz completed, but I haven't had time to combine the pictures to the albums and also upload into Picasa. St. Petersburg, as zou can see, is a work in progress (LOL), and I haven't gotten to the other cities zet.
7/22/2007
The Baltic Capitals
Almost every traveler I've spoken to is envious of my visit to the Baltic capitals of Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. Now that I have been there and done that, I can report back that they are a little overrated. The party scene is great - perhaps the greatest I've seen in my limited action in partying my entire life. But the rest is merely pedestrian. St. Petersburg was a much more interesting city.
This is the Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Tallinn. Housed inside the Toompea Castle, which towers over Old Town Tallinn, it's really a glorified simple cathedral. It did prompt a follow up as to who Nevski was: he was a Russian prince who was great in war and later sainted. The weather, as you can see, was great though. The rest of Tooppea Castle was basically great views of Old Town Tallinn. Can't complain about the party scene though. Europeans really know how to enjoy themselves.
This is the Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Tallinn. Housed inside the Toompea Castle, which towers over Old Town Tallinn, it's really a glorified simple cathedral. It did prompt a follow up as to who Nevski was: he was a Russian prince who was great in war and later sainted. The weather, as you can see, was great though. The rest of Tooppea Castle was basically great views of Old Town Tallinn. Can't complain about the party scene though. Europeans really know how to enjoy themselves.
This is the imposing Freedom Monument in the middle of Riga, erected in the early 1900s before Latvia came under Soviet/German rule. We joked that the Soviets must have used the same statue and changed the meaning of the three stars. Originally they represented three different regions of Latvia. Riga had less tourists but enough backpackers to offer a good time to those who were willing to visit. Everything was less spoiled and had a natural charm to it. Visit the Central Market for a authentic view of how Latvians live. Also in Riga was the Occupation Museum which detailed the somewhat tragic history of this Baltic state.
Vilnius is the least developed of the three Baltic Capitals. It is also the one that was most influenced by Soviet rule, probably due to its proximity to Poland (when Russia was fighting Germany) and the West (the Cold War). This picture is of the main square, which we passed by several times. Vilnius houses a KGB museum which has amazing details on how the agency worked during Soviet rule in Lithuania. Again, good weather works its magic.
Near Vilnius is the majestic Trakai Castle. It is surrounded by 21 lakes and you can sail/paddle/row around it all day. I was tempted to sail but kept reminding myself that I wasn't familiar with the winds on the lake. The castle is actually rather simple but well preserved. We spent a lazy afternoon there drinking beside the lake.
Currently in Munich - a very very very cool city. Did you know all of Munich but for a few buildings are 60 years old, all built since WWII? Did you know that the few buildings that were spared were spared because they served as maps and coordinates for the bombers? Did you know the Nazis started in Munich despite their end in Berlin? Yup, all true. Munich is cool. If I put it in Russia, it'd be cooler than St. Petersburg.
7/19/2007
St Petersburg...
Shit, I'm so slow at keeping up with my travels... here's the St Petersburg highlight. I'd encourage you to read to the end, where a timeline is the only way to describe the debacle we went through.
Here is Kazan Cathedral, one of the first sites we stumbled upon (it was beside the ticketing place). This picture almost does justice to the grandness of the place. The little park in the middle of it was popular with couples and families... even at 10pm or so.
The Church on Spilled Blood is built on the site where one of the Alexanders was assassinated. It's a short walk from Kazan and is a fascinating building to walk around of. Every angle provides a new perspective to the colors and architecture.
There's also the Little Bird Statue that was so small that legend has it if you can throw a coin and it lands on the platform, it is good luck. Keep in mind that the LBS was suspended over one of the many canals of St Petersburg. So a lot of coins where thrown and missed and ended up in the river. The first night, we saw two people working very efficiently to drop down to the water and grab the coins.
Day 2 of St Petersburg brought us to the Winter Palace, where the Hermitage was housed. The Hermitage is a museum that rivals the Lourve and MET in terms of collection. They weren't exaggerating. The collection is awesome even though the venue is not. The Winter Palace wasn't really designed to house paintings and sculptures. Often you would find the sunlight glare from the picture. Anyway, it's a very worthwhile museum. This picture is the outside of Winter Palace.
On our way back, we also passed by the Brown Horseman (statue of Peter the Great - he who built the city) and St. Isaac Cathedral, both magnificent structures. We also saw a pet bear frolicking in a pool in front of the Admiralty, former Russian Navy headquarters. Though none of this beat the SCUBA DIVER who was fetching coins under the Little Bird Statue. This man puts the other tandem to shame.
Day 3 we visited the Summer Palace, which was exactly like the Winter Palace but with more space and therefore allowing a Grand Cascade of fountains like this one:
Yet all this cannot beat the true highlight of the trip, which was the hostels' battle (war?) with BaBITCHka. A bit of background: our hostel is situated in a residential building and the administrator there warned us about an "ill neighbor." BaBITCHka is that neighbor. She gave us a staredown as we exited the hostel one day. We did not realize that she was sizing us up for future battles (the following actually happened... at night):
1100: got back to the hostel to rest a bit and then head out
1130: 1st vodka shot
1135: 2nd vodka shot
1200: 3rd vodka shot
1230: we finally head out with Koreans who speak Russian. BaBITCHka meets us at the front door and says "THIS IS PLIVATE RESIDENCE. WHY YOU CRY!?" We try to ignore her.
130: at a random bar to get cheap beer
200: JM and I (BSLW and EK went elsewhere) at Revolution, a club that has more space than people
330: at another random bar, getting hammered
430: time for old man (i.e. me and JM) to head back to hostel
515: BaBITCHka tells us to use the backdoor (JUST OPEN THE DOOR FOR US!)
518: Our keys don't have access to the backdoor
520: Bumped into Russian speaking Korean. BaBITCHka tells us to use the backdoor
522: Our keys don't have access to the backdoor
525: BaBITCHka opens the FRONT door, leads us to the backdoor, and lets us in
530: The backdoor of the hostel is locked. Banged door to no avail.
535: Engaged in stare down with BaBITCHka
540: BaBITCHka let's us in the front door finally!!!!!
543: Wait... where the hell is EK and BSLW!? They aren't even in the room! BaBITCHka must have deterred them (and they were... EK came back at 830, BSLW at 1030)
And that, my friends, is how welcome I felt in most places in Russia. St. Petersburg is still great though! I'd sad that we didn't have a few more days there.
Here is Kazan Cathedral, one of the first sites we stumbled upon (it was beside the ticketing place). This picture almost does justice to the grandness of the place. The little park in the middle of it was popular with couples and families... even at 10pm or so.
The Church on Spilled Blood is built on the site where one of the Alexanders was assassinated. It's a short walk from Kazan and is a fascinating building to walk around of. Every angle provides a new perspective to the colors and architecture.
There's also the Little Bird Statue that was so small that legend has it if you can throw a coin and it lands on the platform, it is good luck. Keep in mind that the LBS was suspended over one of the many canals of St Petersburg. So a lot of coins where thrown and missed and ended up in the river. The first night, we saw two people working very efficiently to drop down to the water and grab the coins.
Day 2 of St Petersburg brought us to the Winter Palace, where the Hermitage was housed. The Hermitage is a museum that rivals the Lourve and MET in terms of collection. They weren't exaggerating. The collection is awesome even though the venue is not. The Winter Palace wasn't really designed to house paintings and sculptures. Often you would find the sunlight glare from the picture. Anyway, it's a very worthwhile museum. This picture is the outside of Winter Palace.
On our way back, we also passed by the Brown Horseman (statue of Peter the Great - he who built the city) and St. Isaac Cathedral, both magnificent structures. We also saw a pet bear frolicking in a pool in front of the Admiralty, former Russian Navy headquarters. Though none of this beat the SCUBA DIVER who was fetching coins under the Little Bird Statue. This man puts the other tandem to shame.
Day 3 we visited the Summer Palace, which was exactly like the Winter Palace but with more space and therefore allowing a Grand Cascade of fountains like this one:
Yet all this cannot beat the true highlight of the trip, which was the hostels' battle (war?) with BaBITCHka. A bit of background: our hostel is situated in a residential building and the administrator there warned us about an "ill neighbor." BaBITCHka is that neighbor. She gave us a staredown as we exited the hostel one day. We did not realize that she was sizing us up for future battles (the following actually happened... at night):
1100: got back to the hostel to rest a bit and then head out
1130: 1st vodka shot
1135: 2nd vodka shot
1200: 3rd vodka shot
1230: we finally head out with Koreans who speak Russian. BaBITCHka meets us at the front door and says "THIS IS PLIVATE RESIDENCE. WHY YOU CRY!?" We try to ignore her.
130: at a random bar to get cheap beer
200: JM and I (BSLW and EK went elsewhere) at Revolution, a club that has more space than people
330: at another random bar, getting hammered
430: time for old man (i.e. me and JM) to head back to hostel
515: BaBITCHka tells us to use the backdoor (JUST OPEN THE DOOR FOR US!)
518: Our keys don't have access to the backdoor
520: Bumped into Russian speaking Korean. BaBITCHka tells us to use the backdoor
522: Our keys don't have access to the backdoor
525: BaBITCHka opens the FRONT door, leads us to the backdoor, and lets us in
530: The backdoor of the hostel is locked. Banged door to no avail.
535: Engaged in stare down with BaBITCHka
540: BaBITCHka let's us in the front door finally!!!!!
543: Wait... where the hell is EK and BSLW!? They aren't even in the room! BaBITCHka must have deterred them (and they were... EK came back at 830, BSLW at 1030)
And that, my friends, is how welcome I felt in most places in Russia. St. Petersburg is still great though! I'd sad that we didn't have a few more days there.
7/18/2007
Missing pictures...
Four pictures missing from last post: No Foto from Christiania, architecture of Aalto, biggest Russian Orthodox church in Wester Europe where we took a nap (man, that was long), and Senate Square.
7/15/2007
Continuing in Scandinavia...
More images from Scandinavia... this one was taken in Christianhavn... Poweryogi, of course we did. For the unsuspecting, this is the "Amsterdam" of Copenhagen, though I would dispute that. Here are the faces of BSLW and JM. Christianhavn put the fear in them, especially when I was doing the forbidden photography (see next picture).
Not me though. Even though I wasn't supposed to take pictures. I did. Hey, I'm into photography and I have a problem with it. Just let me have my fix. No pictures at the famed Woodstock Cafe though. That place put the fear in me for sure. Some bum came up to me to tell me to stop taking pictures. (For one thing, we were on bikes so we knew we (just I?) could make a break for it if we needed to!)
After expensive Copenhagen ($10 beers, buyers beware!), we arrive at the much more reasonable Helsinki. This is from Esplanadi, the main walking street of Helsinki. A very awesome place with just a bit too many people! There were also some architecture by Aalto, though I wasn't too impressed.
One of the highlights of the trip is visiting this Russian Orthodox Church - the biggest of its kind in Western Europe - in Helsinki. It overlooks the harbor and most of downtown Helsinki. We took a nap under the afternoon sun there.
After the church was Senate Square, where a great domed cathedral stood in silence. We spent a lot of time just wandering that place too. People watching is a must in Finland.
We visited the Suomenlinna, Finland's great sea fortress. It wasn't all that impressive from the ground though the air shots looked very good. Here's a cannon for your entertainment. Blah.
The not so impressive sea fortress was followed by a great meal at the fresh fish market right off the pier. I've never had salmon that good!
Next up will be St. Petersburg. I have to say, so far St. Petersburg is the city I like the most, and that's not because of the drop dead gorgeous women who just walk on the streets in regularity. It has to do with a scuba diver and Babitchka, aka Olga Igorova. Oh, and one of the greatest museums I've ever been to! Stay tuned.
Not me though. Even though I wasn't supposed to take pictures. I did. Hey, I'm into photography and I have a problem with it. Just let me have my fix. No pictures at the famed Woodstock Cafe though. That place put the fear in me for sure. Some bum came up to me to tell me to stop taking pictures. (For one thing, we were on bikes so we knew we (just I?) could make a break for it if we needed to!)
After expensive Copenhagen ($10 beers, buyers beware!), we arrive at the much more reasonable Helsinki. This is from Esplanadi, the main walking street of Helsinki. A very awesome place with just a bit too many people! There were also some architecture by Aalto, though I wasn't too impressed.
One of the highlights of the trip is visiting this Russian Orthodox Church - the biggest of its kind in Western Europe - in Helsinki. It overlooks the harbor and most of downtown Helsinki. We took a nap under the afternoon sun there.
After the church was Senate Square, where a great domed cathedral stood in silence. We spent a lot of time just wandering that place too. People watching is a must in Finland.
They weren't kidding about White Nights... this was taken at midnight and it was still quite bright out. The sun has set but the twilight was still around... I think it eventually went away at 4am... only to resurface at 6am, just in time for sunrise!
We visited the Suomenlinna, Finland's great sea fortress. It wasn't all that impressive from the ground though the air shots looked very good. Here's a cannon for your entertainment. Blah.
The not so impressive sea fortress was followed by a great meal at the fresh fish market right off the pier. I've never had salmon that good!
Next up will be St. Petersburg. I have to say, so far St. Petersburg is the city I like the most, and that's not because of the drop dead gorgeous women who just walk on the streets in regularity. It has to do with a scuba diver and Babitchka, aka Olga Igorova. Oh, and one of the greatest museums I've ever been to! Stay tuned.
7/09/2007
Starting with Scandenavia
The vacation didn't look too good when it was raining all night in Copenhagen the first night. BLSW and I soaked ourselfs for some random dinner place. The night was short.
Next morning we managed to take a train to Malmo, Sweden. Yup, a country in a day... pretty cool that the Danes and the Swedish are so close. Here's the Turning Torso, Malmo's prized building that overlooks the bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden.
Next morning we managed to take a train to Malmo, Sweden. Yup, a country in a day... pretty cool that the Danes and the Swedish are so close. Here's the Turning Torso, Malmo's prized building that overlooks the bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden.
Who knew the painted cows were an invention of the Danes before the Americans copied them? This one, however, is quite the alternative. Yes, that's a Beaver on top. No, this cow cannot be alive.
Our hotel, however dingy, had pretty good pastries. I'm just a bit sad that I didn't try these.
Other highlights (in reverse order):
- its almost 3am now in Helsinki and the sky just got dark
- nap in front of a Orthodox Church
- A "Lam" in the airport who was also going to Helsinki
- biking in Copenhagen
- watching Die Hard 4 in Copenhagen (don't ask)
- Malmo, aka IKEA town; there's no IKEA store, but everything there felt IKEA - even the supermarket!
- Pizza buffet dinner... not!
7/04/2007
Chicago Restaurants
Someone asked for a list. Here goes. Oh, but before that, I need to give Oishi its due. PNGF and I were debating which restaurant we would pick if we had to eat ONLY at that restaurant forever and budget wasn't an issue. Mine would be Oishi. Mmmm... Oishi... all my life... I was debating hard between a Tea Restaurant in Hong Kong and Oishi. Went with the higher NPV. haha.
I've divided the restaurants into categories - note that these are the restaurants I remember or recorded, not all that I've been to. (Feel free to add... restaurants or categories!) Without further ado:
Even Goldman Sachs won't pay for this recruiting dinner:
I've divided the restaurants into categories - note that these are the restaurants I remember or recorded, not all that I've been to. (Feel free to add... restaurants or categories!) Without further ado:
Even Goldman Sachs won't pay for this recruiting dinner:
- Alinea - best new restaurant in America last year, its molecular gastronomy cuisine was excellent and definitely a once in a lifetime culinary experience
- Charlie Trotter - I didn't try... because he tried to banned foie gras and trying to ban veal
- Takkatsu (Japanese pork cutlets are best in country), Hai Yen (Vietnamese food kicks ass, though you might want to bring your own talking menu to get the great authentic stuff), Fogo de Chao (lunch only, all you can eat Brazilian steak, don't miss the bread though!), Laschet's Inn (German friend went there twice in two days), Volare (Excellent Italian food at very reasonable prices)
- MK, Frontera Grill, Devon Seafood, Gibson, Blue Water Grill, De la Costa, Nine, Capital Grille, Nacional 27 - all the food is very good at these restaurants; it's just the price that can sometimes become a problem.
- Bongo Room, Cafe des Architectes, Yolk, Sola, Lula Cafe, West Egg, Julius Meinl, Erwin
- Plus I regret not going to Hot Chocolate
- Coco Pazzo Cafe, PJ Clark, Bandera, Maggiano, Ken Kee, Joy Yee, Lao Si Chuan
- Room 21, Aria, Tango Sur, Indian Garden, The Tasting Room, Vermilion, Vivo, Marche
- Marrakech, Harold's Chicken Shack, White Castle, Coast Sushi, Rock Bottom, Riva
- Sushi restaurants in general... my biggest complain in Chicago. Sigh. Even the sushi in Peru was better.
Goodbye, America!
Feel like that eagle... finally leaving.
I can't believe I am leaving for good. I have spent most (all?) of my adult life in the US. Boston, Chicago, and then homeless now. I've always thought about how I wanted to write this final post, and I finally came to a conclusion: I can't. In fact, I'm a bit speechless right now.
There's so much I want to blog about in the last month. Graduation, leaving Chicago, Peru, book reviews, movie reviews, food reviews, packing, moving out, LA & San Diego, Chicago restaurant recommendations, etc. Yet due to my own disorganization, I haven't had time to do any of this.
Anyway, so I figured that I should thank all who have crossed my life in the US for better or worse. CC, GA, CC, AC, WC, GN, TW, JL, GL, CM, FL, high school and my first touch with the USA. All those late night cooking will be remembered. Sanyo pots forever. BK, WL, PF, AT, CN & C, Anger, thanks for a great time at Tufts. Our Hill Hall dorm room cannot be beat. AT, if you don't have a bachelor party, there will be wrath upon you. CP, thanks for always being there through good and bad. We're all better at analyzing other people's situation. GN, TW & MC, Vincci, Vivian, professional Boston would never be the same without you guys. EK, MV, AL, RK, RM, and the other AG folks... I wish I could be back at AG - just open an office in Hong Kong!
And to my GSB buddies... Thank you, PNGF. SZ, I don't think business school would have been fun without you. PP, BSLW, and MK, I'm sorry I couldn't join you in Galapagos due to weak backbones. I'd travel with you guys again anytime (such as this summer). EK, HL, AS, OH, MC, and many others... you have all touched my life one way or the other (but mostly using me as a driver), thanks for the great ride conversations. Honestly, it made the ride to Hyde Park much more interesting.
I'm off to Copenhagen in about 30 hours... and yet I still find the time not enough to talk about my departure. Yes, it's a bit self centered... but hey, that's why I blog!
6/28/2007
Lately...
Sorry about the non-blogs... wish I had more time and effort, but I just don't. Peru pictures and text are coming soon to my website. Um... but you can always experience paragliding first.
Random news:
Random news:
- In Friendster, you can see who viewed your profile; I was shocked to see the Big V (GSB... ex-GSB) viewed my profile. I clicked on her picture just to make sure it's the same V. Fast forward two days, she's requested to be a friend! Amazing!
- Some bloggers (TB, I will miss you) have ended their careers. May they RIP.
- Hey, CNN writes about me!
- The GSB photo mosaic project is finally finished.
- Meanwhile, my good friend Erica is battling some HK media.
- I've been waiting for my movers for the last 4 fucking hours.
- Peru was good, but not spectacular. It's not as tall as Tibet. The architecture isn't as good as its contemporary comparable. The food is fresh but not that much better.
- I'm still trying to find time to slow down and reflect. Shouldn't have scheduled everything so tight. Sigh.
6/20/2007
Moving on...
to Cusco.
I joined my family in Cusco finally after the misadventures. Getting a temporary passport turned out to be easier than I thought so I flew out of Lima a day earlier.
Turns out that I didn´t miss that much as my mother and my brother both fell victim to high altitude sickness and they didn´t get to see much of Puno anyway. I guess the bad luck wasn´t going to just stop!
We toured the Sacred Valley yesterday and will tour the city of Cusco today. This city is buzzing with energy all the time. Finishing a great dinner (I had the guinne pig - remember, I am Chinese, so don´t judege me) at 930pm, the streets were still jamming with a parade!
Machi Pichhu tomorrow. I can´t wait. Oh, and my new camera is awesome.
I joined my family in Cusco finally after the misadventures. Getting a temporary passport turned out to be easier than I thought so I flew out of Lima a day earlier.
Turns out that I didn´t miss that much as my mother and my brother both fell victim to high altitude sickness and they didn´t get to see much of Puno anyway. I guess the bad luck wasn´t going to just stop!
We toured the Sacred Valley yesterday and will tour the city of Cusco today. This city is buzzing with energy all the time. Finishing a great dinner (I had the guinne pig - remember, I am Chinese, so don´t judege me) at 930pm, the streets were still jamming with a parade!
Machi Pichhu tomorrow. I can´t wait. Oh, and my new camera is awesome.
6/17/2007
More bad luck!?
Is it even possible after day 1 and day 3?
Worse, no. Bad luck, yes! On my birthday, aka day 4 of my so far hellish (negativity dominance, slowly evolving into my favorite bias!) Peru trip:
Worse, no. Bad luck, yes! On my birthday, aka day 4 of my so far hellish (negativity dominance, slowly evolving into my favorite bias!) Peru trip:
- face plant on the streets of Lima - ouch
- jacket stolen at a night club, I think - may retrieve today
- used something from P&I class - by stating that I have no money, the merchant gave me an automatic discount and then some more discounts on my purchase of a bag
- sorted out my flights due to the disruption
- decided to do some handgliding, with or without the camera
- met some awesome folks in the hostel
- blah blah blah
6/16/2007
More mishaps...
Just when I thought things couldn´t get worse, I one upped myself. Good job, Eric.
After traveling and traveling, we settled in the city of Chiclayo (destination was Trujillo, but that didn´t work out). We toured a very good museum and a very big archelogical site before taking the bus, finally, to Trujillo. Stayed in a very nice hotel (family paying, yay!).
The next morning, my beloved Domke bag was stolen from me during breakfast. With it, my passport, my D80, my four lens, my 3 filters, my 2 hoods, my 2 polarizers, my 1 spare battery, my 4 2GB memory cards, my cleaning kit, my sun glasses (aka my best purchase in years), my travel log, my reading book (ironically on chaos theory - this all started with the Trujillo flights cancelling on me) were all GONE. That bastard made out with about $2300 worth of merchandise.
We even spotted the person on security camera... he scouted us for about 15 minutes before making a smooth move to take the bag without any of my family noticing. But just like a 24 episode, the video was recorded over and the clip forever lost.
Anyway, police report and phone calls ensued, and I now have to break away from my family to get my passport done and possibly buy a new camera if available. So... tomorrow is my birthday, and instead of spending it with my family on the majestic Lake Titicaca, I will be running around Lima with my travel agent trying to reroute my flights to join my family once my passport is settled. Even my surprise birthday party was cancelled (it was at the same hotel restaurant where my bag was stolen).
While negativity dominance (a social psychology term) took reign, there is some perspective. The reason we went to Trujillo was to visit a volunteer there. She showed us around; I´ve seen poverty, but not that up close. I guess losing $2300 worth of stuff isn´t that bad afterall.
By the way, if I can take back one piece from the lot, it would be the memory card with all my pictures from the first two days. Second in line would be my camera body. Then the bag. Then the passport. Funny how I prioritized.
After traveling and traveling, we settled in the city of Chiclayo (destination was Trujillo, but that didn´t work out). We toured a very good museum and a very big archelogical site before taking the bus, finally, to Trujillo. Stayed in a very nice hotel (family paying, yay!).
The next morning, my beloved Domke bag was stolen from me during breakfast. With it, my passport, my D80, my four lens, my 3 filters, my 2 hoods, my 2 polarizers, my 1 spare battery, my 4 2GB memory cards, my cleaning kit, my sun glasses (aka my best purchase in years), my travel log, my reading book (ironically on chaos theory - this all started with the Trujillo flights cancelling on me) were all GONE. That bastard made out with about $2300 worth of merchandise.
We even spotted the person on security camera... he scouted us for about 15 minutes before making a smooth move to take the bag without any of my family noticing. But just like a 24 episode, the video was recorded over and the clip forever lost.
Anyway, police report and phone calls ensued, and I now have to break away from my family to get my passport done and possibly buy a new camera if available. So... tomorrow is my birthday, and instead of spending it with my family on the majestic Lake Titicaca, I will be running around Lima with my travel agent trying to reroute my flights to join my family once my passport is settled. Even my surprise birthday party was cancelled (it was at the same hotel restaurant where my bag was stolen).
While negativity dominance (a social psychology term) took reign, there is some perspective. The reason we went to Trujillo was to visit a volunteer there. She showed us around; I´ve seen poverty, but not that up close. I guess losing $2300 worth of stuff isn´t that bad afterall.
By the way, if I can take back one piece from the lot, it would be the memory card with all my pictures from the first two days. Second in line would be my camera body. Then the bag. Then the passport. Funny how I prioritized.
6/14/2007
First day traveling... and traveling...
Yesterday at about 330pm, my family and I set off from Columbus Plaza to Peru. THIRTY hours later, we've finally settled in. Oh yes, you read that right. No disrespect to my Indian friends traveling back home, but this was still quite an ordeal.
Let's just say I haven't done anything weirder (this includes my ordeal with United in Denver and then my unbelievably timed trip to Boston) than:
Let's just say I haven't done anything weirder (this includes my ordeal with United in Denver and then my unbelievably timed trip to Boston) than:
- Arrive and depart from the same airport FOUR times in a day
- Fly from one airport to another TWO times in 12 hours
Our consolation prize was a great meal at a restaurant called TanTa. My god they were awesome. Maybe it was the whole travel mess; or maybe just hunger. I'm not sure. Either way, they were good, and they immediately quelled my fear of sub par food experiences instilled by 2R, whom famously said that she craved McD after her Peru trip.
Anyway, it was fitting that with all this adventurous mishaps in Peru that I finished reading Touching the Void, an amazing true story of how two friends survived broken souls and legs. Reading how the author survived his certain death fall and then managed to crawl himself to safety reminded me of my Tibetan experience (at the end of the page), which of course pales in comparison but still looms big in my life as my closet death encounter. Anyway, I thought the author had a very accurate desription of how one physially and mentally feels when he or she brushes death. I don't know how lose I was to death, but I had very similar experience - the voice vs. thoughts, setting into a pattern, collapsing one help came, etc. Very good book for a quik read. I can't imagine myself in a similar situation; well, part of it is because I am a wuss and I would never plae myself in that kind of danger... but also the guilt would just bury me alive. Highly reommended. I now want to read the other hiking books!
6/12/2007
Graduation and Summer
So, finally, I am an Chicago GSB MBA! Yay!
I have a lot of thoughts I want to write down.
I have a lot of people I want to thank.
But I think I want to write about my summer schedule: Chicago Lima Trujillo Lima Puno Cusco Machu Picchu Puerto Maldonado Lima Chicago LA Chicago Copenhagen Helsinki St Petersburg Moscow Talinn Riga Vilnius Munich Salzberg Ibiza Amsterdam Brussels Amsterdam Paris Nice Monaco Barcelona Budapest Csurgo Budapest London Hong Kong
=) I'm off to Lima tomorrow, so maybe those thoughts and people can wait a little bit!
I have a lot of thoughts I want to write down.
I have a lot of people I want to thank.
But I think I want to write about my summer schedule: Chicago Lima Trujillo Lima Puno Cusco Machu Picchu Puerto Maldonado Lima Chicago LA Chicago Copenhagen Helsinki St Petersburg Moscow Talinn Riga Vilnius Munich Salzberg Ibiza Amsterdam Brussels Amsterdam Paris Nice Monaco Barcelona Budapest Csurgo Budapest London Hong Kong
=) I'm off to Lima tomorrow, so maybe those thoughts and people can wait a little bit!
6/08/2007
$16000...!?
This quarter I took 4 classes (damn, I can't believe I'm graduating):
Pricing Strategy: I've mentioned before that Dube is on steroids as he can talk non-stop for about 3 hours. Luckily, we also have someone in the class who loves to make random comments that may or may not relate to the class. JKip and I started to tally the times she spoke, and we had to segment the occasions into "raised hand and called upon," "raised hand, not called, and spoke anyway," and "just spoke." Good times. Her record is 13 times in the first half - she left after break, presumably because she lost her voice. Anyway, the class is decent and the learnings just scratch the surface. Since Dube speaks non-stop, he actually covers a very broad range of topics but doesn't get into any great detail. For people who are heading into Marketing, I can imagine this being a very good class to take. For me, however, I'd say learning how to do different pricing strategies is quite irrelevant besides the fact that I now know that I'm being screwed over when I buy stuff. Ah, the curse of knowledge.
Managing in Organizations: This might be one of the best classes I've taken at the GSB. Epley is no Dube, but he's still on steroids, evident from him waving his hands like crazy and jumping up and down during class. He uses a lot of classic experiments and in-class examples to make his points, so the points are easy to remember yet the effects are profound - all the biases, the ways to achieve productivity without changing much in personnel or capital, simple yet fundamental mistakes organizations make and how to correct them, etc etc. One important point: I'm not sure if the point of the class is to teach us to take advantage of the biases or correct our own. I think the former will have great benefits in management! Also, the problem with social psychology is that they make points by comparing the average, such as 80% of respondents performed better under ABC situations compared to 40% not under ABC. What about the 20% who didn't perform better? Do you account for those? Why don't they perform better?
Power and Influence: Menon won the Phoenix prize for excellence in teaching this year, so she's a proven professor. While she's not as excited as Dube and Epley, her enthusiasm is definitely unmatched - and that's saying a lot given the enthusiasm of all teachers at the GSB. She cares deeply about the class and about the students. I had shared some of my thoughts about Alan with her - she replied with passion and compassion, and I appreciated it very much. There are a lot to learn from the class, but most will not be useful in the first few years on my job. It will be something that I need to constantly remind myself of and keep developing MY power and influence. Great take aways, though somewhat disjointed, especially towards the end.
Strategy and Structure: Bothner has a certain style that not everybody appreciates. He's very stubburn and will only accept your answer if it matches his word by word; and he'll make you say it his way too. He also pokes fun at people as the class goes. I appreciated the antics... as long as it isn't me. There are a lot of frameworks used in the class that are sometimes quite obvious and sometimes quite irrelevant, yet some are fundamental to the understanding of a firm. My question is... without the HBS cases, are these frameworks that easily applied to companies? Know that HBS cases are altered so that all the pieces fit into these so-called frameworks. Is real life that easily dissected as well? Me think not. Anyway, the class is valuable and very useful for consultants.
All highly recommended. One of the best quarters I've ever had, even though I never studied hard (or maybe that contributes to it being the best)...
And now it's goodbye and graduate. It hasn't hit me yet.
Pricing Strategy: I've mentioned before that Dube is on steroids as he can talk non-stop for about 3 hours. Luckily, we also have someone in the class who loves to make random comments that may or may not relate to the class. JKip and I started to tally the times she spoke, and we had to segment the occasions into "raised hand and called upon," "raised hand, not called, and spoke anyway," and "just spoke." Good times. Her record is 13 times in the first half - she left after break, presumably because she lost her voice. Anyway, the class is decent and the learnings just scratch the surface. Since Dube speaks non-stop, he actually covers a very broad range of topics but doesn't get into any great detail. For people who are heading into Marketing, I can imagine this being a very good class to take. For me, however, I'd say learning how to do different pricing strategies is quite irrelevant besides the fact that I now know that I'm being screwed over when I buy stuff. Ah, the curse of knowledge.
Managing in Organizations: This might be one of the best classes I've taken at the GSB. Epley is no Dube, but he's still on steroids, evident from him waving his hands like crazy and jumping up and down during class. He uses a lot of classic experiments and in-class examples to make his points, so the points are easy to remember yet the effects are profound - all the biases, the ways to achieve productivity without changing much in personnel or capital, simple yet fundamental mistakes organizations make and how to correct them, etc etc. One important point: I'm not sure if the point of the class is to teach us to take advantage of the biases or correct our own. I think the former will have great benefits in management! Also, the problem with social psychology is that they make points by comparing the average, such as 80% of respondents performed better under ABC situations compared to 40% not under ABC. What about the 20% who didn't perform better? Do you account for those? Why don't they perform better?
Power and Influence: Menon won the Phoenix prize for excellence in teaching this year, so she's a proven professor. While she's not as excited as Dube and Epley, her enthusiasm is definitely unmatched - and that's saying a lot given the enthusiasm of all teachers at the GSB. She cares deeply about the class and about the students. I had shared some of my thoughts about Alan with her - she replied with passion and compassion, and I appreciated it very much. There are a lot to learn from the class, but most will not be useful in the first few years on my job. It will be something that I need to constantly remind myself of and keep developing MY power and influence. Great take aways, though somewhat disjointed, especially towards the end.
Strategy and Structure: Bothner has a certain style that not everybody appreciates. He's very stubburn and will only accept your answer if it matches his word by word; and he'll make you say it his way too. He also pokes fun at people as the class goes. I appreciated the antics... as long as it isn't me. There are a lot of frameworks used in the class that are sometimes quite obvious and sometimes quite irrelevant, yet some are fundamental to the understanding of a firm. My question is... without the HBS cases, are these frameworks that easily applied to companies? Know that HBS cases are altered so that all the pieces fit into these so-called frameworks. Is real life that easily dissected as well? Me think not. Anyway, the class is valuable and very useful for consultants.
All highly recommended. One of the best quarters I've ever had, even though I never studied hard (or maybe that contributes to it being the best)...
And now it's goodbye and graduate. It hasn't hit me yet.
6/07/2007
Applying GSB Classes
I bought my VW Golf in a very unexpected way. I remember walking into the dealership with Alan to explore the options, and walking back out 30 minutes with a signed purchase agreement. Alan was like "huh, did you just buy a car?" Good times. I went in prepared and the deal they offered me was just above the invoice. We shook hands (The dealer guy was called Jim Carrey - I will always remember this) and I had myself my first car!
The goodbye to my beloved Golf was just as unexpected. I drove the car for someone to see. He took a look, asks some questions, test drove it, and then said "I have cash for you back at the store." Completely took me by surprise!
I found myself reaching back to my OB classes (Negotiations, Power and Influence, and Managing in Organizations) when I negotiated. He seemed in a hurry to close the deal, while I was hoping to keep the car for a couple of days. Apparently he wants to buy a car for his gf and he's had bad car testing experiences and he doesn't want to deal with other sleezeballs who try to sell him lemons. We negotiated on price a little and closed the deal. Negotiations are about relationships, not money.
And thus my exodus from Chicago begins. IT commented that I was selling my life (yup, almost everything!). Indeed I am. It hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm sure it will in a few days time.
6/04/2007
Alinea
There were 25 courses for dinner at Alinea (5 stars of course)... but one course required us to hold on to the bowl and I couldn't take a picture of it. The food was delicious and a once in a life time culinary experience. Service was excellent and not pretentious. In fact, the staff there were mostly under 27... anyway, back to the food. There were a few dishes I thought was a bit too salty, but the overall balance was great and each dish had a specific theme to it. The best was Apple, Duck, and Caramel. Like I said, once in a life time... aka until my next bonus! Highly recommended; it'll take a big hit on your wallet, but it's well worth it!
6/01/2007
Things that made me smile
LeBron James finally making the leap and becoming a relentless leader on the basketball court. He followed up on his 29 of 30 points in 4th quarter and OT game with a 20 point 9 assist game and won both. That's how great basketball players get born. On the other hand, Flip Saunders again proved himself to be bad, failing to double team LeBron early in the series and attack LeBron whenever. Whoever LJ is guarding on the Spurs in the finals will head to the basket everytime. I promise you.
Saw my picture on the back of ChiBus... weird.
Drawing the strategy chart for Blockbuster - that baby has so many arrows it'll make my basketball coach proud.
Having our last class in which the final presentation is on how the Boston Red Sox transformed itself from good team that makes money to great team that makes money and wins.
Speaking of the Red Sox, they are up 13.5 games on the Yankees. Actually... they are 10 games ahead of the O's - that's where the focus should be. I bet the O's and the BlueJays are extremely miffed that the media focuses on the race between first place and FORTH place.
Food... more on this later... but Frontera Grill is possibly the best Mexican food I've ever had. Alinea's 27 course meal is to die for - taste-bud-wise and monetarily. Bongo Room's sweet brunch is, of course, SWEET. Will post pictures and slide show later.
And thus I head into the final week... almost done.
Saw my picture on the back of ChiBus... weird.
Drawing the strategy chart for Blockbuster - that baby has so many arrows it'll make my basketball coach proud.
Having our last class in which the final presentation is on how the Boston Red Sox transformed itself from good team that makes money to great team that makes money and wins.
Speaking of the Red Sox, they are up 13.5 games on the Yankees. Actually... they are 10 games ahead of the O's - that's where the focus should be. I bet the O's and the BlueJays are extremely miffed that the media focuses on the race between first place and FORTH place.
Food... more on this later... but Frontera Grill is possibly the best Mexican food I've ever had. Alinea's 27 course meal is to die for - taste-bud-wise and monetarily. Bongo Room's sweet brunch is, of course, SWEET. Will post pictures and slide show later.
And thus I head into the final week... almost done.
5/31/2007
Research findings...
I found out that one of my classes graded our written response to case questions - essay questions that could be answered N different ways - with a MACRO! A Macro! This is like the GMAT all over again!
Meanwhile, A-Rod did this. Man I hate that loser. Play the game like a man already!
Onto the research: a few weeks ago, I scanned my hand at the U of C, and here are the findings based on the scan (also discussed in Freakenomics):
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly less prone to athletics than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly more verbally fluent than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you have slightly worse spatial abilities than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly less aggressive than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly less musically able than the average man.
Meanwhile, A-Rod did this. Man I hate that loser. Play the game like a man already!
Onto the research: a few weeks ago, I scanned my hand at the U of C, and here are the findings based on the scan (also discussed in Freakenomics):
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly less prone to athletics than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly more verbally fluent than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you have slightly worse spatial abilities than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly less aggressive than the average man.
Based on your digit ratio, we would predict that you are slightly less musically able than the average man.
5/30/2007
Most likely to...
- Just an alert to my friends who tend to study at your local coffee shop: I've heard two thefts in the last few days at places around Michigan Ave. Beware.
- I forgot to mention that I played in a charity poker tournament last week and was among the final three tables among about 200 players. Yay!
Sunday night, I went for German food, courtesy of MA, a German himself, who highly recommended it. Laschet's Inn (4 stars) was excellent if you like mystery meat. Just kidding, the meat was very juicy and the spartzle was very good. As with all other Western food establishments, the lighting was dim and I squinted at the menu to figure out what was what. Laschet's Inn has a natural charm to it and the service was very good. Of course, there was also great beer selection!
Remember my first and second post on rumors? (By the way, this link is a classic and a must read, if you are GSB... yet I digress...) Well, yours truly won two prizes from the Greater China Club survey: most likely to have an affair and one night stand. Yay... victory... NOT. Both NPV negative projects, as opposed to be on Wall Street Journal, first CEO, and being a millionaire. Another noteworthy observation is that the runner up and second runner up are both consultants. Apparently bankers don't have time for affairs and one night stands.
Did a photoshoot for a friend of a friend around Chicago. This is my first time, so it is quite fun. I have a lot to learn, obviously. I don't like most of the pictures although there were a few that turned out well. In general, I don't like any posing and find candid shots much more compelling. I'll take another chance to practice anytime though!
Also ate at Cafe des Architectes (4.5 stars). It's in a chic hotel (Sofitel) that reminded me of a cooler W, which I previously thought wasn't possible. There was great lighting for photography, and the food was also excellent. My ordered my usual measuring stick, Eggs Benedict, and it came out quite well. The roasted tomato made the dish though - made just right and not too squashy. PP ordered a egg white thing (see below) that was also quite good. Despite being in a hotel, the prices were reasonable for the quality.
Remember my first and second post on rumors? (By the way, this link is a classic and a must read, if you are GSB... yet I digress...) Well, yours truly won two prizes from the Greater China Club survey: most likely to have an affair and one night stand. Yay... victory... NOT. Both NPV negative projects, as opposed to be on Wall Street Journal, first CEO, and being a millionaire. Another noteworthy observation is that the runner up and second runner up are both consultants. Apparently bankers don't have time for affairs and one night stands.
Did a photoshoot for a friend of a friend around Chicago. This is my first time, so it is quite fun. I have a lot to learn, obviously. I don't like most of the pictures although there were a few that turned out well. In general, I don't like any posing and find candid shots much more compelling. I'll take another chance to practice anytime though!
Also ate at Cafe des Architectes (4.5 stars). It's in a chic hotel (Sofitel) that reminded me of a cooler W, which I previously thought wasn't possible. There was great lighting for photography, and the food was also excellent. My ordered my usual measuring stick, Eggs Benedict, and it came out quite well. The roasted tomato made the dish though - made just right and not too squashy. PP ordered a egg white thing (see below) that was also quite good. Despite being in a hotel, the prices were reasonable for the quality.
5/28/2007
Food and Movie
What the hell? I haven't written about food and movies for 2 weeks!?
Marrakech (4.5 Stars) - part of GSB's Around the World dinner series, this Moroccan place offers all the basic stuff. Nothing remarkable. Considering that we paid $10 per person that includes adequate food and a couple glasses of wine, I'd say it's a good deal. CM commented that the pictures made the food look much better than it was. Fair enough. No pictures. Not recommended.
By the way, if you wish, please join me in protesting to citysearch (just email "newbusiness@citysearch.com") about the new star system. For example, Marrakech was a 8.7 when I looked it up a month ago. It is now a 4.5 star, making it comparable to establishments such as Wildfire, Bistro 110, Trattoria No. 10, and Coco Pazzo Cafe. I mean, how can I trust citysearch anymore when they equate Marrakech to Coco Pazzo Cafe!!?? HOW!?
Yolk (5 stars) - arg, I can't stop. Yolk is good, but it's no Sola, also a 5-star establishment. Anyway, my french toast was perfectly done and touched up with fresh blueberries. I also tasted the peach crepe, which was a tad too sweet but otherwise very yummy. The place is nice and bright, though very crowded. It would have been an ridiculous wait for a table had we not made reservations. Recommended.
Harold's Chicken Shack (will not honor with ratings) - I finally got to test this Hyde Park legend. The Chase bank is right beside it, so I've actually passed by Harold's many times. I never realized, however, that it served its food over a bullet proof glass and a carousel counter! Classic stuff. Yet another reason why you should live away from Hyde Park. Recommended... only for the bullet proof glass experience.
Room 21 (4.5) - this is a brand new restaurant - less than four weeks, I was told - with one of the coolest decors I've ever seen in a restaurant. It was Al Capone's old hide out where he store the alcohol during prohibition. If you've seen "Untouchables", this is the room where they busted the alcohol! They even featured a secret tunnel that let the crooks escape.
On to the food: the Fried Shrimp Cocktail was surprisingly good, with a spicy salsa sauce that really raised the level; the tuna tartar was good (I have yet to taste a screwed up one); the mini steak burgers were excellent with some mystery sauce, and the crab cake risotto was light, craby, and not too creamy. Excellent appetizers. The main entres were more ordinary, however. The Fillet Mignon was adequate and the Halibut was pretty piss poor. The side dishes, the fried mashed potato and creamy corn, however, were innovative and extremely good. Deserts were good though, and I would highly recommend the Banana sorbet with blueberries - just sweet enough that you can taste it; just light enough that you can still eat it. Recommended... if the prices were 25% cheaper.
Spiderman 3 - with super super low expectations, I found the 3rd installment still slightly bad.
Cheesy dialog plus dumb plot minus good action means a boring 2 hours. Let me think... nope, there wasn't even one cool fight scene. Not recommended.
Marrakech (4.5 Stars) - part of GSB's Around the World dinner series, this Moroccan place offers all the basic stuff. Nothing remarkable. Considering that we paid $10 per person that includes adequate food and a couple glasses of wine, I'd say it's a good deal. CM commented that the pictures made the food look much better than it was. Fair enough. No pictures. Not recommended.
By the way, if you wish, please join me in protesting to citysearch (just email "newbusiness@citysearch.com") about the new star system. For example, Marrakech was a 8.7 when I looked it up a month ago. It is now a 4.5 star, making it comparable to establishments such as Wildfire, Bistro 110, Trattoria No. 10, and Coco Pazzo Cafe. I mean, how can I trust citysearch anymore when they equate Marrakech to Coco Pazzo Cafe!!?? HOW!?
Yolk (5 stars) - arg, I can't stop. Yolk is good, but it's no Sola, also a 5-star establishment. Anyway, my french toast was perfectly done and touched up with fresh blueberries. I also tasted the peach crepe, which was a tad too sweet but otherwise very yummy. The place is nice and bright, though very crowded. It would have been an ridiculous wait for a table had we not made reservations. Recommended.
Harold's Chicken Shack (will not honor with ratings) - I finally got to test this Hyde Park legend. The Chase bank is right beside it, so I've actually passed by Harold's many times. I never realized, however, that it served its food over a bullet proof glass and a carousel counter! Classic stuff. Yet another reason why you should live away from Hyde Park. Recommended... only for the bullet proof glass experience.
I was afraid to take pictures of the bullet proof glass - so I took pictures of the wings instead
Room 21 (4.5) - this is a brand new restaurant - less than four weeks, I was told - with one of the coolest decors I've ever seen in a restaurant. It was Al Capone's old hide out where he store the alcohol during prohibition. If you've seen "Untouchables", this is the room where they busted the alcohol! They even featured a secret tunnel that let the crooks escape.
On to the food: the Fried Shrimp Cocktail was surprisingly good, with a spicy salsa sauce that really raised the level; the tuna tartar was good (I have yet to taste a screwed up one); the mini steak burgers were excellent with some mystery sauce, and the crab cake risotto was light, craby, and not too creamy. Excellent appetizers. The main entres were more ordinary, however. The Fillet Mignon was adequate and the Halibut was pretty piss poor. The side dishes, the fried mashed potato and creamy corn, however, were innovative and extremely good. Deserts were good though, and I would highly recommend the Banana sorbet with blueberries - just sweet enough that you can taste it; just light enough that you can still eat it. Recommended... if the prices were 25% cheaper.
If you are really curious about one food item, email me and I'll let you know which one it is...!
Cheesy dialog plus dumb plot minus good action means a boring 2 hours. Let me think... nope, there wasn't even one cool fight scene. Not recommended.
5/25/2007
Week 9 in Spring Quarter
Here's a picture that quite accurately describes the feeling at the GSB right now. Together with my colleagues at the GSB, having a great time... before we head our different directions.
Last week was the last class for Power and Influence. Great class, by the way. The wrap up touched me with two subjects. Liminality is "the space in between," as in our current position between MBA and full time job. Menon says it's in this space that we are most open to learning and new things. I agree with her. While this whole quarter has been rather relaxing, a stark difference from the past five, it has been a quarter of learning - both in class and out of class. Another subject from the last class I will put it in quotes:
"People prepare perfectly for their wedding; they do not prepare for the marriage. People prepare for their interviews; they do not prepare for the job."
5/23/2007
Rumor Mills...!?
Just when I talked about gossiping among Chinese in an earlier post, the Greater China Club has come up with this particularly racy survey...! It's the last few questions, if you're wondering... the first few are... uh... speculative.
I wonder if some of them just read my blog and thought "hey, he's right, we need more gossip to solidify the network!"
I wonder if some of them just read my blog and thought "hey, he's right, we need more gossip to solidify the network!"
5/22/2007
To gossip or not to gossip?
Consider this scenario:
X, Y, and Z all know each other. X tells Y that Z is an ass. What should Y do?
do it for X - he or she might not be serious, might be exaggerating or kidding
do it for self - no need to create drama, no context to refer to, spreading gossip might backfire by violating trust
do it for Z - doesn't need to know, doesn't need to drama
Reasons for Y to choose the second option (1%):
do it to screw X - don't like or don't care much about X, or think that new will never circle back to X
do it for self - gain trust of Z, create some drama in life, may benefit from rift between X and Z
do it for Z - much better friend that X, therefore must alarm
The diligent you would have of course guessed that I got into trouble... that's right, I've been X, I've been Y, and I've been Z! Everybody has, there's no exception.
X - okay, so I shouldn't have opened my big mouth, whether I mean it or not.
Y - I don't like drama, and I think it backfires more than one realizes
Z - I generally dismiss the comments because people say different things in differen contexts. I can't judge it. Hence... people tend to not deliver the news
The Chinese translation for gossip is "yes and no" (是非)... for some odd reason, gossip travels much faster in Chinese circles. A friend of mine and I discussed this and came to the following conclusion: because Asian cultures are geared towards groups and units, there's a higher tendency to "cement" membership within the group by spreading gossip. Such gossip is viewed as sharing with the group and is validated by the group. Very odd... but makes sense.
But hey... on a lighter note, I won it all in some light poker play earlier tonight. There's a tournament tomorrow (for charity) and I'm hoping my new lucky cap can continue to bring me luck!
X, Y, and Z all know each other. X tells Y that Z is an ass. What should Y do?
- Don't tell Z and don't worry
- Tell Z and create some drama
do it for X - he or she might not be serious, might be exaggerating or kidding
do it for self - no need to create drama, no context to refer to, spreading gossip might backfire by violating trust
do it for Z - doesn't need to know, doesn't need to drama
Reasons for Y to choose the second option (1%):
do it to screw X - don't like or don't care much about X, or think that new will never circle back to X
do it for self - gain trust of Z, create some drama in life, may benefit from rift between X and Z
do it for Z - much better friend that X, therefore must alarm
The diligent you would have of course guessed that I got into trouble... that's right, I've been X, I've been Y, and I've been Z! Everybody has, there's no exception.
X - okay, so I shouldn't have opened my big mouth, whether I mean it or not.
Y - I don't like drama, and I think it backfires more than one realizes
Z - I generally dismiss the comments because people say different things in differen contexts. I can't judge it. Hence... people tend to not deliver the news
The Chinese translation for gossip is "yes and no" (是非)... for some odd reason, gossip travels much faster in Chinese circles. A friend of mine and I discussed this and came to the following conclusion: because Asian cultures are geared towards groups and units, there's a higher tendency to "cement" membership within the group by spreading gossip. Such gossip is viewed as sharing with the group and is validated by the group. Very odd... but makes sense.
But hey... on a lighter note, I won it all in some light poker play earlier tonight. There's a tournament tomorrow (for charity) and I'm hoping my new lucky cap can continue to bring me luck!
5/19/2007
Did I graduate?
Oh, not yet? I'm practically checked out of school...
My summer plans are shaping up: 2 weeks and Peru, 2 months in Europe, and 2 years in debt.
Damn you, Ben and Jerry, for price discriminating during these warmer months. Why can't you offer a $10 for 4 deal every two weeks? Why does it have to be $10 for 3 every 2 months now? You forced me to stockpile 9 pints at home. You did this to me...!
While watching ESPN, PNGF suddenly asked "who's that?" Surprising, since she doesn't follow any sport at all. "Brett Farve," I replied. "Oh, he was in Something about Mary!" Good job, Brett, that will be your legacy. You were in Something about Mary. So stop whining and play some ball.
In my mail box at school, I find a nice box with the following label on top: Dear Josekin, Student volunteers play a prominent... thank you... Career Services. And then another box: Dear Eric, Student volunteers play a prominent... thank you... Career Service. So there you have it. The first time when my confusing name got me two prizes! I just hope bursar doesn't catch on.
My summer plans are shaping up: 2 weeks and Peru, 2 months in Europe, and 2 years in debt.
Damn you, Ben and Jerry, for price discriminating during these warmer months. Why can't you offer a $10 for 4 deal every two weeks? Why does it have to be $10 for 3 every 2 months now? You forced me to stockpile 9 pints at home. You did this to me...!
While watching ESPN, PNGF suddenly asked "who's that?" Surprising, since she doesn't follow any sport at all. "Brett Farve," I replied. "Oh, he was in Something about Mary!" Good job, Brett, that will be your legacy. You were in Something about Mary. So stop whining and play some ball.
In my mail box at school, I find a nice box with the following label on top: Dear Josekin, Student volunteers play a prominent... thank you... Career Services. And then another box: Dear Eric, Student volunteers play a prominent... thank you... Career Service. So there you have it. The first time when my confusing name got me two prizes! I just hope bursar doesn't catch on.
5/16/2007
What can OB do for you?
If you are GSB Class of 2007, please help us fill out this survey about networking. It's ironic that as our group does a project on networking, we find our own networks rather narrow: they don't include many investment bankers! Oh the irony.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=106803815259
Thanks!
Classes this quarter have been great. I'm learning about power in organizations and how to achieve (and lose) them. I'm learning how to be happy (strangely, or perhaps not strangely, I think I've already been able to execute life to be happy). I've learned how to make a break up very bad - all of which has been applied to me before... but now I have a psychological term for it... YEAH! I've learned about all sorts of systematic biases that people and organizations hold.
So what can organizational behavior classes do for you? Nothing much for now... that's what I've learned so far. For the average associate level employee, OB lessons may help manage your own professional life better, but that's about it. However, the higher you go, the more important these OB lessons become. Actually, it's more like irreplaceable.
Onto life:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=106803815259
Thanks!
Classes this quarter have been great. I'm learning about power in organizations and how to achieve (and lose) them. I'm learning how to be happy (strangely, or perhaps not strangely, I think I've already been able to execute life to be happy). I've learned how to make a break up very bad - all of which has been applied to me before... but now I have a psychological term for it... YEAH! I've learned about all sorts of systematic biases that people and organizations hold.
So what can organizational behavior classes do for you? Nothing much for now... that's what I've learned so far. For the average associate level employee, OB lessons may help manage your own professional life better, but that's about it. However, the higher you go, the more important these OB lessons become. Actually, it's more like irreplaceable.
Onto life:
- Bulls win game 5, finally making this a worthwhile series.
- Liverpool vs. AC Milan next week. I can't wait for Liverpool to repeat its 2005 miracle run (nah... AC is way too good for Liverpool... though I do want to see Crouch's robot dance, highest of high comedy)
- By the way, how did THIS happen!? HOW LOW HAVE WE SUNK!? I demand a real vote.
- Never understood why the NBA was so defensive about the study on refs being racially biased. It happens to anyone, even refs. Think about how to ensure the bias, no matter how big or small, go away. Don't always think we don't have a problem!
- I've been told that seeing my food pictures (specifically, dessert) in the morning has an adverse effect on my reader's health. So be it.
5/15/2007
Lessons learned from Boston
First of all, you can see Boston pictures here... and three lessons I learned from my return to Boston as a tourist.
1. Traveling for food is the best reason. Way before we arrived in Boston, we already made requests and reservations for different food. Without further ado, from left to right, top to bottom: lobster at Quincy Market, Black Pepper Lobster at Blue Ginger (5 stars in city search... what happened to the points!?), Butterfish with Soba Sushi and very good wasabi also at Blue Ginger, Spicy Beef Bowl at my old hideout Cafe Mami (4.5 Stars), O-Toro with Caviar at the immortal Oishii (5 stars of course), spider roll at Oishii, alligator roll at Oishii, and two pictures of the too-good-to-be-true Molten Chocolate and three different types of ice cream at Finale (No stars since it is the brand new Brookline restaurant). We also went to Cafe Vittoria (5) for tiramisu, Emack and Bolio (4.5) to get smoothies, Bartley's (4.5) to get deadly frappe (er, milkshake), China Pearl (4.5) and the biggest shrimp dumpling in the world, and Dok Bua (4.5 again, god I hate these stars) for cheap but delicious Thai dinner.
1. Traveling for food is the best reason. Way before we arrived in Boston, we already made requests and reservations for different food. Without further ado, from left to right, top to bottom: lobster at Quincy Market, Black Pepper Lobster at Blue Ginger (5 stars in city search... what happened to the points!?), Butterfish with Soba Sushi and very good wasabi also at Blue Ginger, Spicy Beef Bowl at my old hideout Cafe Mami (4.5 Stars), O-Toro with Caviar at the immortal Oishii (5 stars of course), spider roll at Oishii, alligator roll at Oishii, and two pictures of the too-good-to-be-true Molten Chocolate and three different types of ice cream at Finale (No stars since it is the brand new Brookline restaurant). We also went to Cafe Vittoria (5) for tiramisu, Emack and Bolio (4.5) to get smoothies, Bartley's (4.5) to get deadly frappe (er, milkshake), China Pearl (4.5) and the biggest shrimp dumpling in the world, and Dok Bua (4.5 again, god I hate these stars) for cheap but delicious Thai dinner.
2. Perspective is important... being a tourist is completely different from living in Boston. This time back, I decided to do all the tourist things (besides driving in Boston - that's something a tourist can't possibly handle). Alas, it's not as fun as the food; but I did actually enjoy the city a lot! The historic walks were excellent and the public parks were beautiful. Of course, perfect weather helped too.
3. Don't make unnecessary changes when things are going well. We went to watch the Red Sox battle the Os at Fenway. Their pitcher dominated us for 8.3 innings. An error by the catcher allowed Coco Crisp to get on base rather than facing 1 last out. Ortiz doubled (picture below) home the run and the come back was on its way. Anyway, when the Os decided to take out the starting pitcher, I was baffled. He has been dominating us with only 10 pitches per inning. TEN! Why would you switch him out!? This is like firing the top VP when a lowly associate made a silly mistake. Idiotic. And it cost them the game.
5/11/2007
GSB lack hot women?
Okay, I might as well set myself up to be kicked out of school before graduation (in a month!).
During our Kentucky Derby trip, our RV ladies vehemently defending other GSB ladies, saying that there are many eligible girls who are single at the GSB. There are always guys at the GSB who keep complaining about the quality of women. Alas, I have found the root cause and the solution. So listen up.
Root cause: those who complain are always banker types; they are mostly male, the loudest, and they have a sample bias.
Solution: join the Marketing Group! I did a presentation for them on how to make a good powerpoint slide. I think I counted 5 men among 30 girls, and the 30 girls were pretty good looking.
As for the Bulls game I attended, let's just say the most exciting part of the game was this lady:
During our Kentucky Derby trip, our RV ladies vehemently defending other GSB ladies, saying that there are many eligible girls who are single at the GSB. There are always guys at the GSB who keep complaining about the quality of women. Alas, I have found the root cause and the solution. So listen up.
Root cause: those who complain are always banker types; they are mostly male, the loudest, and they have a sample bias.
Solution: join the Marketing Group! I did a presentation for them on how to make a good powerpoint slide. I think I counted 5 men among 30 girls, and the 30 girls were pretty good looking.
As for the Bulls game I attended, let's just say the most exciting part of the game was this lady:
5/10/2007
Second Yearnitis
Kentucky Derby pictures can be seen here.
If you haven't given to the class gift, here's the link.
If I went to this sushi restaurant (which I won't, because I am boycotting Chicago sushi), I might just leave every thing on the plate and pay more than the buffet price.
Speaking of sushi, I'm heading to Boston for the great Oishi. Also on the schedule is Blue Ginger and of course good ol lobsters. I'm also watching Josh Beckett pitch for his eighth consecutive victory to start the season (this Sunday). It'll be fun to approach Boston as a tourist.
Second yearnitis is hitting hard! I have to plan for Boston, Peru, Europe, move to Hong Kong... oh, and of course there are four classes, but who wants to know about those! Although... I would like to live a day and label all my conversations with biases I've learned from OB classes. For example:
PNGF: my exam sucked
Me: that is a negativity dominance bias
PNGF: you are so juvenile
Me: that is a fundamental attribution error
PNGF: shut up now
Me: that will be a self fulfilling prophecy
PNGF: you are so dead
Me: I can't fin... OUCH!
If you haven't given to the class gift, here's the link.
If I went to this sushi restaurant (which I won't, because I am boycotting Chicago sushi), I might just leave every thing on the plate and pay more than the buffet price.
Speaking of sushi, I'm heading to Boston for the great Oishi. Also on the schedule is Blue Ginger and of course good ol lobsters. I'm also watching Josh Beckett pitch for his eighth consecutive victory to start the season (this Sunday). It'll be fun to approach Boston as a tourist.
Second yearnitis is hitting hard! I have to plan for Boston, Peru, Europe, move to Hong Kong... oh, and of course there are four classes, but who wants to know about those! Although... I would like to live a day and label all my conversations with biases I've learned from OB classes. For example:
PNGF: my exam sucked
Me: that is a negativity dominance bias
PNGF: you are so juvenile
Me: that is a fundamental attribution error
PNGF: shut up now
Me: that will be a self fulfilling prophecy
PNGF: you are so dead
Me: I can't fin... OUCH!
5/07/2007
RV to Kentucky Derby!
After listing the high and low lights, I've decided that it was a worthwhile experience but I wouldn't do it again. At least I get to cross it off my "to-do" list (yes, sadly, RVing was on my to do list)...
Highlight: mint juleps (thank you, AE) and beer
Lowlight: Coors light all the time
Highlight: Getting gas and propane
Lowlight: $150 gas tap...
Lowlight 2: Propane guy says "y'all better get out of the RV now"
Lowlight: We scratched our RV at a gas station
Highlight: the RV rental guys didn't pick up on it
Highlight: water to brush teeth
Lowlight: no showering for 3 days
Highlight: say hi to high society while in RV gear
Lowlight: they immediately looked away and walked faster
Highlight: turkey brat #2
Lowlight: hamburger #13
Highlight: BF made scones and muffins while AE made past and fruit salad
Lowlight: Starbucks, Taco Bell (avoid the Seven Layer Crunchy thing at all cost), burger, eggs, burger, burger, Starbucks, and Burger King were our meals.
Highlight: the horse we bet on won
Lowlight: the horses that we also bet on didn't
Highlight: all those nice hats in and around Churchill Downs
Highlight 2: people watch
Lowlight: water bed (if you ask, I can elaborate)
Highlight: a drunk NR
Lowlight: a drunk NR
Highlight: Derby infield was great
Lowlight: trashy RV park was not
Highlight: shower at home after the trip
Lowlight: massive #2 in HPC
Highlight: RV bathroom looked good
Lowlight: we weren't allowed to use it (RV rule #1), so it was portapotties for all three days
Highlight: bathrooms at Starbucks, Taco Bell, Burger King, and HPC
Below is some pictures I took... for all of it with a lot of head shots, you can get them here.
Infield of Churchill Down
Churchill Down Entrance
Oh, and of course there's the race...
Highlight: mint juleps (thank you, AE) and beer
Lowlight: Coors light all the time
Highlight: Getting gas and propane
Lowlight: $150 gas tap...
Lowlight 2: Propane guy says "y'all better get out of the RV now"
Lowlight: We scratched our RV at a gas station
Highlight: the RV rental guys didn't pick up on it
Highlight: water to brush teeth
Lowlight: no showering for 3 days
Highlight: say hi to high society while in RV gear
Lowlight: they immediately looked away and walked faster
Highlight: turkey brat #2
Lowlight: hamburger #13
Highlight: BF made scones and muffins while AE made past and fruit salad
Lowlight: Starbucks, Taco Bell (avoid the Seven Layer Crunchy thing at all cost), burger, eggs, burger, burger, Starbucks, and Burger King were our meals.
Highlight: the horse we bet on won
Lowlight: the horses that we also bet on didn't
Highlight: all those nice hats in and around Churchill Downs
Highlight 2: people watch
Lowlight: water bed (if you ask, I can elaborate)
Highlight: a drunk NR
Lowlight: a drunk NR
Highlight: Derby infield was great
Lowlight: trashy RV park was not
Highlight: shower at home after the trip
Lowlight: massive #2 in HPC
Highlight: RV bathroom looked good
Lowlight: we weren't allowed to use it (RV rule #1), so it was portapotties for all three days
Highlight: bathrooms at Starbucks, Taco Bell, Burger King, and HPC
Below is some pictures I took... for all of it with a lot of head shots, you can get them here.
Our RV
Requisite liquor store stop
RV Park... not much space for anything
Infield of Churchill Down
Churchill Down Entrance Oh, and of course there's the race...
5/04/2007
Kentucky Derby
Giddy up, here I come!
Seven of us are RVing down to Kentucky to watch the Derby.
Correction... seven of us are RVing down to Kentucky to drink Mint Juleps.
Seven of us are RVing down to Kentucky to watch the Derby.
Correction... seven of us are RVing down to Kentucky to drink Mint Juleps.
5/02/2007
Relax...
Some procrastination tools:
On Monday, I brought my passport to school to scan. Of course, I then realize that I already have a scanned version saved in my computer. Anyway, I left my passport on the scanner and finally realized it on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, the computer lab calls and said they have my passport and asked me not to panic.
Um... why would I panic? It's in the GSB on a scanner. What's there to panic? Relax, don't stress.
- This clip is quite funny
- Dumb people all around
- Learn about tofu
On Monday, I brought my passport to school to scan. Of course, I then realize that I already have a scanned version saved in my computer. Anyway, I left my passport on the scanner and finally realized it on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, the computer lab calls and said they have my passport and asked me not to panic.
Um... why would I panic? It's in the GSB on a scanner. What's there to panic? Relax, don't stress.
Midterm week should mean more blogs
- My previous post on my friend being punched in the face reminded me of one of my favorite posts from way back. Good times.
- Yesterday was monumental in that there was exactly ONE blog post among the 30 something blogs I subscribe to. Everybody is taking a vacation from blogging, even the folks from Freakenomics!
- Meanwhile, it's midterm week at the GSB and I'm finding all sorts of way to procrastinate
- Make your class gift donations here!
- Got tickets to Europe and then to Hong Kong... it's becoming a reality, damn it
- Tried to leave a comment on The Dirty Canucks blog... unsuccessfully
- Gathering photographers around the GSB for a project for the class gift
- And, when I ran out of procrastination tasks, posting a blog
Bulls win Game 2... and then 3 and 4... bring it on, Detroit
Sunset from my apartment, I'll use a tri pod next time
Carrot-Coriander Griddle Cakes
Beef Sirloin Eggs Benedict
The well named Sticky Bun
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)