While swimming at the Z center last Monday, I discovered that swimming pool in the Z center is now configured as a 50m pool in the summer. The staff moved the movable boom that usually divides the pool into several more 25m lanes.

Swimming in a 50m pool presents its own challenges. In particular, one needs to settle into rhythmic yet relaxed strokes in the 50m pool than one does with the 25m pool. Unlike last Monday when I was all out-of-sync, I settled into my strokes earlier today and was able to swim for 900m. I did cheat by putting on a pair of fins in my last 4 laps. However, I have to confess that I love the fins. Swimming with fins is not only effortless but also quite exhilarating because you go really fast with them.

5/25/2005 10:50:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [13]

Sports

This is really sad. Boston has been hit by days of continuous downpour and unseasonably cold weather. The weather is so bad that a cloudy day with occasional drizzle is now considered a nice day. In addition, the weatherman said yesterday's highest temperature is the coldest high temperature on record for May 24th.

5/25/2005 9:55:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [13]

Rants

I am going to take this opportunity to reflect back on my first semester at MIT now that the spring semester is officially over. Without further ado, here is my verdict for the classes listed in descending order of preference:

1. ESD.762 - System Optimization
   This is without a doubt my favorite class last semester. The topic is not only interesting but also fun. Who would have thought that using Excel and Crystal Ball to build mathematical models and crunching out numbers were actually fun. Moreover, the cross-disciplinary aspect of System Optimization make this class useful in real-life applications. As for the professor, what else can I say about Prof. Simchi-Levi? He is simply an engaging and insightful lecturer. Unfortunately, this course is the abridged version of System Optimization, which is designed specifically for the SDM program. I wish that they had given us the 9 or even 12-unit version of this class. Nonetheless, this is still a great class.
2. 15.840 - Innovations in the Marketplace
   This course is the SDM’s version of Marketing 101, in which we focused on the product design and development aspects of the marketing. 2 professors, Prof. von Hippel and Prof. Dan Ariely, jointly taught this class. However, it was the guest lecturer that I liked most about this class. In fact, I rank Ken Morse’s talk on High-Tech Sales and Entrepreneurship to be the best talk of last semester.
3. 15.981 - Technology Strategy
   I am really ambivalent to this class and it has been a love-and-hate relationship. Strategy as a subject is something that I enjoy studying. It has provided me the frameworks and challenged my thought process on businesses. The only problem that I have with this class is delivery. I can see the benefits of case studies and the discussions that followed, but I reject the professor’s intention of keep the scope of the discussions strictly within the frameworks that we learned from class. I also object the absence of clear explanations on some of the principles in this class. Without infringing on the class discussion, I think the majority of the class can benefit tremendously from a short lecture at each session to clear some of the ambiguities that have often plagued the student’s write-ups.
4. ESD.72 - Engineering Risk-Benefit Analysis
   Unlike the majority of my class who hated this class, I actually like this class even though I will probably end up with a grade of "B" for this class. The problem sets may be long and time-consuming but I still think I learned something from the class.
5. 15.980/ESD.936 - Product Design and Development
   This course started on a high note but ended on a low note. Lectures from the second half of the course were boring and have no value-added. The saving grace to this class was the semester-long team project, which, through a great team effort, my team was able to complete with rave remarks from the faculty. I had experienced teams from hell in the past (work, undergrad, grad, personal, etc), but having gone through a pleasant experience of working with the project team for this class, my faith in teamwork has finally been restored.
6. ESD.922 - SDM Thesis Seminar
   This is a seminar where SDM students discover possible thesis topics and advisors by listening to guest professors speaking about their research. There was a good mix of good and bad lectures from this seminar. My 2 favorite guest speakers were Prof. Tom Allen and Prof. Michael Cusumano.

For fellow SDM students, what are your favorite classes?

5/23/2005 6:36:42 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [14]

School

I have finally returned to Boston. The first thing that greeted me at the airport is the crappy cold and overcast weather. This is the sixth weekend in a row where the weather in Boston is either raining or overcast. No wonder people in Boston (me included) are cold and grouchy. I really miss San Francisco and sunny California. The crappy weather only makes me more motivated to moving to San Francisco. For now, I will blog in reminiscence of my trip to San Francisco.

Day 8 (Amoeba Records and Star Wars)
The day went by as chronicled in my previous blog. Since everyone that I knew in San Francisco was busy with family, seen the movie, or has other engagements, I saw Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith by myself. Possible Star Wars sequels notwithstanding, I feel relieved as the Star Wars saga is finally complete with this movie release. It is definitely the better of the first 2 Star Wars prequels and the special effects in my opinion are one of the best I have seen. However, solely relying on special effects and the Star Wars franchise do not make this movie a great movie. The acting, directing, and story did not match those of the original Star Wars episode. The plot, in my opinion, is weak and unconvincing. The transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader, the establishment of the Empire, and the demise of the Jedi Knights could have developed and expressed better in the movie. Despite the flaws, this is still a movie to watch.

Day 9 (Hiking in Marin County)
This is the day I depart San Francisco. Before my departure, I went hiking with Chris and his brother, Adam at the Marin County Park, which is north of the Golden Gate Bridge. We hiked across a hill before settling down at English operated bed-and-breakfast, Pelican Inn, for some Bangers and Marsh, and some good English beer. After the hike I took a power nap at Brian's apartment before I finally left San Francisco on a red-eye flight to Boston.

5/22/2005 2:01:16 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

Travels

Today is the most gorgeous day I have seen in San Francisco. So it was hard not to go out to enjoy the sun. I took a nice stroll to Haight-Ashbury to visit what I consider to be the mother-of-all-record-stores, Amoeba Records. Amoeba Records is not only huge but has the feel of a neighborhood store. As far as I can tell the business is thriving and the store sells everything from independent label vinyls to DVDs, both new and used. I bought a few CDs at $5 each: Starsailors, Morcheeba, The Replacements, and Moby. I had originally planned to read a book that I bought from City Lights a few days ago after returning from Amoeba Records; but the sun and the clear blue sky was simply too enticing for me not to go out. With an urge to explore more of San Francisco, I left the apartment and climbed up to the highest hill in the vicinity, 14th Avenue hill (or whatever it is officially known). At the hill top, I took a (possible) last panorama view of San Francisco before I leave for Boston tomorrow. Like Siobhan, I have achieved a considerable amount of Zen since arriving in San Francisco and the thought of leaving for Boston really sadden me. While walking down the hill, I finally made up my mind to commit myself to moving to the San Francisco-Bay Area after my graduation. What a nice day.

5/20/2005 9:48:04 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [12]

Travels

With the sun breaking the clouds, yesterday's melancholy tunes were finally replaced with the rousing music genre of Acid-Jazz. With nothing better to do, I decided to continue writing and reading the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes, a quiet and uneventful afternoon is a bliss.

Day 4 (Excursion to Wine Country)
With a strong desire to release the energy that was lay dormant for the last 6 months due to the sedentary lifestyle at NYU Stern, Siobhan insisted on going for a run at 6:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, being running freaks, Brian and Chris were more than happy to oblige Siobhan’s wish. Reluctantly, I went with running with them. After the run, Brian went to work while Siobhan and I went for an excursion to the wine country - Napa and Sonoma Valley - with Brian’s car. Since this is a day trip, we skipped Sonoma Valley and went straight to Napa Valley. For anyone who is planning to visit Napa Valley, I highly recommend purchasing the non-topographic map depicting all wineries in Napa Valley from the Napa Valley Visitors Information Center for $3. It is well worth acquistion as all wineries are clearly marked on the map while on the backside of the map, you get a grid of all wineries and their operating information like operating hours, tours availability, etc. We managed to visit Rutherford Grove, Beaulieu, Duck Horn, and Van der Hayden wineries. Being impressed with the wines that I tasted at Van der Hayden, I broke the bank by purchasing several bottles of wine from the winery. Conversely, our trip to Napa Valley also coincided with the Supreme Court’s decision of allowing wineries to ship to out-of-state consumers. While this news received applause from the wineries, I couldn't help wondering why they didn't celebrate this landmark decision by offering Siobhan and me free wine tasting. Nonetheless, I can now order Napa Valley wines directly from Massachusetts. Nice!!!

Day 5 (Being Tourists)
Siobhan and I did the tourist thing by taking the cable car from Powell St. to Fisherman Wharf. We spent a good portion of the afternoon walking around the wharf and looking at the sea lions at pier 39. To complete our anarchic experience in San Francisco, we visited the infamous City Lights bookstore at the North Beach district of SF. After dinner, Brian, Siobhan, and I went to Canvas for amateur stand-up comedy.

Day 6 (Departures and Toastmaster)
I felt an absence of energy as soon as Siobhan left San Francisco for NYC earlier that day. It was a slow day yesterday as I did some reading and blogging in the afternoon before rushing out the house to meet Brian to attend a meeting of the Toastmasters Golden Gate chapter, of which Brian is a member. After the meeting, Brian left for Sacramento to visit his mother who will undergo a surgery on Friday. So, for the next 3 days, I will be staying all by myself at Brian's apartment.

Day 7 (Lunch with Sumer)
I took the BART to East Bay to visit Sumer, an ex-colleague, ex-boss, and MIT alum who influenced my earlier decision to apply to MIT. Since leaving MIT in 1997 he had started 2 new companies. He is glad that I am now attending MIT and taking the entrepreneurial path. It was good to catch up with him. For tonight, I plan on participating in a Yoga session at a Yoga studio a few blocks from Brian's apartment. I haven't done Yoga since I ended my marathon training last year. But the real motivation for Yoga is really the disproportional high number of beautiful women at the studio.

5/19/2005 7:50:59 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [14]

Travels

The melancholy tunes of Radiohead are aptly appropriate for the gloomy and rainy afternoon in San Francisco. As the afternoon ticks by in this fog and rain drenched city, I slowly begin to recall and write about my experiences in San Francisco since my arrival last Friday.

Day 1 (Day of Arrival)
Arrived in Oakland International Airport on a Jet Blue flight, which I had redeemed with my frequent air miles 2 weeks before. Brian and Siobhan, whom had arrived half a day earlier from New York, picked me up at the airport. We then went to the UC, Berkeley to grab some beers and food.

Day 2 (Drunk by Sake)
We went to Haight-Ashbury (or Hippie town) to stock up on the accessories and attires that we need for the Bay to Breakers event on Sunday. Besides visiting the countless costume stores in the Haight district, we also had lunch at Kan Zaman, which serves cheap and delicious Middle Eastern food. Later that afternoon, Siobhan, Brian, and I met up with John and Chris for a game of billiards in Daly City. Siobhan left shortly after the game as she headed back to San Francisco to meet her cousin for dinner. The boys, left to their own devices, celebrated Chris’s 29th birthday at a sushi restaurant not too far from Chris’s apartment. It was a really fun night as the 4 of us got hammered after several rounds of good sake.

Day 3 (Bay 2 Breakers)
Brian has been inviting me to San Francisco in the last 3 years to participate in the Bay to Breakers running race where runners are dressed up in costume or not being dressed up at all. In fact, one of my motivations for my visit to San Francisco is to see the hype surrounding Bay to Breakers. But saying "wow" is an understatement as Bay to Breakers is more than just an event, it is an extravaganza of running, partying, parading, and drinking. It is nothing that I had ever seen. But I shall defer further description of this event as I have to leave the computer to meet Brian in downtown San Francisco an hour from now.

5/18/2005 6:37:48 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [3]

Travels

John, our illustrious leader of my $50k team, was defending his PhD thesis in conductive polymer yesterday. Since his thesis is highly applicable to our $50k business venture, I went to his thesis dissertation (first one ever) to better understand the technology behind our business model. I thought the presentation was smooth and very insightful. I have actually been thinking about focusing my engineering part of my SDM program in material sciences and engineering lately. Consequently, I may actually take a number of electives in Course 3 - Material Sciences & Engineering (More about the rationale of this plan later...). In any case, it has been a while since I dealt with material sciences, it was actually refreshing to hear the word "volatile" in John's presentation as a substance that vaporize quickly to vapor as opposed to management's definition of "volatile".

5/13/2005 2:27:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

School

This is not good. I missed the first round of Sloan bidding yesterday due my procrastination over weekend. I may not be able to get into certain management electives that I had planned on taking next fall semester. My only hope is my preferred classes won't be closed before I start bidding in the second round of Sloan bidding.

5/10/2005 11:03:02 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [12]

School

Not much happened at school today. We had a guest lecturer, Paul Garvey, for my ERBA class today. The talk was fairly interesting, in which he mentioned that every cost estimation should include unknown variables like price fluctuations, unexpected events, etc. Because of uncertainties, a cost benefit analysis shouldn't be modeled as a point estimation but rather as a cumulative probability distribution of system cost.

After class, I met up with Yoav, a fellow member of my PDD team, to talk about filing for a provisional patent for our project. I will try to work on the patent application tomorrow.

5/9/2005 11:47:41 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [16]

School