It seems like people are going all out to get their hands on the highly anticipated (or I would say overrated) release of Sony Playstation 3 (PS3). Some even camped out for days for the PS3. There is certainly plenty of mayhem today with the official launch PS3 in America.

First, armed men robbed an Elk Grove Store of PS3. Next, a blogger's account of a smash n' grab incident at a Best Buy parking lot. In other another part of the country, police has to be called in to quell the rowdy crowd. Then there is a man who was shot while waiting for PS3. Last but not least, a bad case of the Mondays by going "Office Space" on the PS3 - this one is funny.

11/17/2006 4:15:39 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [1]

News

Due to the overwhelming number of students and the workload involved in grading the assignments in System Project Management, a required SDM course, I was offered the position of teaching assistant (or TA) for this course. Actually, Krishna, a fellow classmate, was the sole TA for the class before I joined; but he is simply overwhelmed. Hopefully, my presence will help reduce the workload. My appointment is only for the second half of the semester, which by the way has past the halfway point. I did the paperwork with Jeff yesterday and I am pleased to say that the financial payoff for this position is very good. It certainly makes economic sense.

The first order of business as the new TA was to attend class. I have to say that the view of the class in room in 1-390 from the first row - an area where TAs generally sit - looks very different. For the past year, I have been taking classes Sloan or TPP courses. I haven't attended an SDM core class for about a year. It was quite refreshing to sit through a core SDM class. Since I taking two economic courses at the moment, I tend to break everything down to economic terms these days. It was no surprise that I was thinking with an economist's mindset during project management class yesterday. When the professor asked: What makes a good project manager? The first thought in mind was: resource allocation. It is true, resource allocation is important but that was not the answer I thought of a year ago. It is interesting how certainly courses can really influence one's thinking and perspective. And I like thinking in economic terms. It certainly helps me in developing good analytical skills and a sharp, logical mindset.

11/15/2006 8:15:52 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [0]

School

Wow... Awesome pictures by some of the best photographers on Flickr. Check it out here.

11/3/2006 10:00:29 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [0]

Internet

Once again, I have been preoccupied with other activities that kept me from updating this blog. At the moment, like any students who will be graduating next year, I have been pensive on what I want to do with my life and career after graduation from MIT. It is kind of paradoxical. On one hand, by being at MIT I have access to many career opportunities. Yet, being a mid-career person, I have found it challenging and sometimes frustrating to make a complete career switch in this point in my career. Nonetheless, this soul-searching process is forward-thinking and is no different from the time when I contemplated about going back to grad school. Ultimately, I believe and am still driven to doing something that I am passionate for. I don't think I can ever go wrong in going this direction.

11/2/2006 2:10:24 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [2]

Personal

From time to time, I would join eMusic then download a mega load of digital music before canceling my membership. I would repeat this cycle a few months later. However, the selection at eMusic must be getting better lately because I find myself rejoining eMusic every month to seek and download new music.

Last week, I rejoined eMuisc to download a fresh batch of digital music, which consists of the following albums:

• Picaresque by The Decemberists - If you need an introduction to The Decemberists, this is the album to get. After reading rave reviews about this band and their music, I decided to download this album to listen for myself. I was blown away by the band's lyrical tunes along with the wonderful voice of Colin Meloy, the band's lead singer and songwriter. I could not exactly categorize the musical genre that identifies the band. They have a broad range of musical style that ranges from folksy music akin to that of The Thrills to the upbeat indie pop similar to that of The Smiths. Absolutely my favorite album at the present. I highly recommended this album.
• Castaways and Cutouts by The Decemberists - A close second favorite album by the band.
• 18 B Sides by Moby - This is one of the two albums from Moby that features B-sides, which some people consider as rejected stuff that did not make it to the main album. But do not let this negative connotion fool you in believing that this album is infrerior. While the album may not be as refined as the parent album 18, it does have a collection of great dance and ambient songs. The goods news is that all tracks on this album sound quite differently from those on the parent album. Overall the album sounds very refreshing and appealing - the album feels more like a new relese than a collection of B-sides.
• Play: The B Sides by Moby - This album is so-so.
• Ambient by Moby - Somehow I do not like this album that much. It is refined but nothing stands out from this album. My least favorite of the six albums.
• Bellavista Terrace: Best of the Go-Betweens by The Go-Betweens - A compilation of top tunes from an 80's indie band from Australia.

10/17/2006 12:11:01 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Music

While talking to first year students at MIT recently, I have noticed that many people are unaware or not taking advantage of the MIT Opencourseware (OCW) project. The OCW is a great resource for finding past assignments and exams as well as their solutions. I have found archived OCW assignment solutions - although not all courses in OCW offer this - to be effective study guides. They help me to cut down study time without compromising my understanding of the course subject. Finally, practicing past exams is an effective way of preparing for exams.

10/14/2006 10:53:34 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

School

I wrote about the continuing DVD format war between HD DVD and Blu-Ray on my previous blog entry. The question is who will emerge as the victor in this battle? NEC announced today that it has developed a chip that is capable of decoding the two DVD formats at the same cost of a decoder that reads only one format. Just like any other format wars before, the whole format compatibility becomes a non-issue as future DVD players will support both formats. Ultimately, there are no winners or losers in this silly format war. The only problem now is to find an affordable optical pickup that reads both formats.

10/11/2006 10:54:49 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Technology

My fellow classmate, Sorin appears on the latest issue of News at MIT, an MIT Sloan student newsletter, to talk about his perspective on living overseas.

10/10/2006 8:32:20 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

School

I had dinner with Michelle and Camille at House of Tibet Kitchen, a small Tibetan restaurant in Somerville. I have had Tibetan food before but I found it to be rather greasy and strong-flavored. If you like Tibetan food that is fresh, light, and delicious, then those served from House of Tibet Kitchen will appeal you. Their lentil soup is phenomenal - it is simple yet palatable. For appetizers, I highly recommend Friendly Snack which consists of an assortment of all their appetizers for only $6.50. Some of their appetizers are deep-fried but they do not taste greasy. The place is small but it has a great ambience. I recommend this place to anyone.

10/8/2006 11:25:18 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Food