At the moment, my legs and arms are feeling like jelly. I am simply too exhausted from my first swim workout with the MIT Triathlon Club. I was intimidated by the MIT triathletes’ swimming prowess. Not only were they able to cover twice the distance that I did, they also swam effortlessly past me a couple of times. Considering that I only started swimming seriously 2 months ago, I shouldn't get too discouraged with today's workout. Maybe swimming with the MIT triathletes was a bad idea at this point in my young swimming career. Nonetheless, the swimming workout tonight highlighted some areas that I need to improve. I hope to work on those weaknesses and perhaps sign up for a more advanced swimming lesson in the summer. Maybe I will do better in tomorrow's running workout with the club. I am always better in running.

5/31/2005 10:56:41 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [16]

Sports

Finally the weather is conducive enough (or I just don't friggin' care anymore) to play tennis and grill for the very first time this year. For my first grilled food this year, I grilled some chorizos, which I bought from Whole Foods supermarket but I somehow managed to screw it up by overcooking them. This is unacceptable for iron chef.

5/30/2005 10:40:17 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [15]

Personal

I found a really cool music site that allows me to build a profile of my musical taste and share it with the public. Check out my discerning taste for good music.

5/30/2005 1:24:52 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [16]

Music

I made some minor changes to my blog:

1. Added RSS and ATOM feeds. If you are like me who uses Firefox, you can click on the orange RSS icon on the bottom left of Firefox to subscribe to my blog feed.
2. Added a new link "Find out what I'm listening to" under "About Me" heading.
3. Made some changes in "Steal These Buttons" section.

5/30/2005 1:14:08 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [13]

Blog

Like the last 6 consecutive weekends, it rained today. At least, the sun was breaking through the clouds most of the day today. To take advantage of the momentary lapse of nice and sunny weather, I called Cenkhan (Jake) to go for a 6 mile run along the Charles River. As much as I love running, I have to confess that running is a boring activity especially without any company. That is why it's always good to run with someone. After the run, we visited the Graduate Barbeque event at Ashdown House briefly.

To satisfy my craving for pho, I had dinner with Fanny at Pho Pasteur at Harvard Square. One problem I have with pho is the excessive MSG that they add to the broth soup. As I write this blog, I am still reeling from my overdose of MSG. I am friggin' thirsty now.

5/28/2005 11:30:33 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [10]

Personal

It is now official, I have just signed up for the Salem City Triathlon on August 7th. I will attempt to cover 0.5 miles of swimming, 13 miles of biking, and 3 miles of running. It is time for me to start toning up those major muscle groups for swimming, biking, and running.

5/26/2005 10:13:13 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [15]

Sports

I organized a basketball game at the Z-center earlier today. Once again, it was the usual suspects, like Yoav and Kevin, who showed up. I am beginning to feel that my SDM classmates are just too lethargic to do anything outside of class. Nonetheless, we had a few good rounds of pick-up basketballs with other students at the courts.

5/26/2005 9:58:12 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [15]

Sports

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

Sometimes, I am amazed at the amount of energy I have. Take yesterday for example, instead of taking a nap after spending 9 hours sitting through a series of class presentations, I decided to swim at the Z-center. My PDD team was supposed to get together for dinner to celebrate our successful product completion later that night, but nobody called. I think everyone was just beat or probably overslept from his nap. Still feeling energetic, I went to the nerdiest event that I have ever gone to - the Time Traveler Convention. This ragtag event has garnered attention from the media like Slashdot, NPR, and New York Times in recent weeks. Indeed, the event was even mentioned on Weekend Update in Saturday Night Live last night. To paraphrase the news announcers on Saturday Night Live:

Students at MIT organized the first time traveler convention earlier tonight. Unfortunately, they have not reported any time travelers visiting from the future because the people in the future heard that the party sucks.

I really enjoyed the event, which featured three professors Farhi, Guth, and Demanine, superstars in Theoretical Physics at MIT. In particular, Professor Edward Farhi's talk was delivered like a comedian giving a live stand-up comedy performance on Einstein's relativity and time traveling. I was literally in tears listening to Farhi's hilarious talk.

I left the convention early to meet up with Blanche and her 3 girlfriends at Cuchi-Cuchi for some Mojitos. I ended the night at Grafton Street Bar to meet with Michelle, Brian, Eimear, Roberto, and Angela. For the first time, I thought that Grafton Street Bar isn't as pretentious as I had previously thought. It is a good place to hang out on Saturday.

5/8/2005 7:50:39 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

School

My team made our final presentation and demonstration of our product (still no public disclosure as we are still in the process of applying for a patent) in our PDD class. For a change, the joined RSID/MIT faculty had decided that the final presentation should be held at Brown University in Providence, RI to accommodate the Providence-based RISD students who has been attending the semester-long course at MIT.

The presentations in general were much better than I had anticipated. Many teams incorporated films into their presentation to market their products or demonstrate their product development process. Some of the films like the James Bond film for the virtual office briefcase and the one-handed nailing product played to the tune of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" were notably hilarious. In general, I felt that the presentations from the 1 pm section were better delivered and more creative than the ones from the 4:30 pm section. I also have to respectfully disagree with Robbie on the presentation format. It may be hard to decide how a team should pitch their completed product. Should one present the completed project as a product or as a new business? Our team initially structured our presentation to venture capitalists but went against it later because the class is, after all, about product development, not creating a new enterprise. The presentation, therefore, should be structured to market our product, illustrate the product development process, and describe any future product development.

Kudos goes out to Christian, our presenter, who effectively incorporated humor to our team's presentation. We got the crowd clapping and screaming, "Demo! Demo!" before we had barely even finished our presentation. In closing, it has been a PLEASURE working with you guys - Christian, Dave, Eugene, Matt, Spiros, and Eugene. Great work, team 12 and thank you.

5/8/2005 7:12:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [16]

School

For three weeks in a row, we have been having rain and abnormal cold temperature on the weekends. This has really ruined the weekend for me.

5/8/2005 6:01:55 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [15]

Rants

Yesterday was Susan Hockfield's inauguration as MIT's 16th president. After Technology Strategy class, the SDM Muddy Charles crowd went straight to Killian Court where the inauguration was held. Unfortunately, the inauguration was over by the time we got there. Nevertheless, there were plenty of catered Hors D'oeuvres to go around. I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty the food was. After spending 15 minutes at Killian Court, I departed from the group to meet up with my $50k team at the Muddy. At the end of the day, I went to the Z-center to swim but the entire athletic center was closed to students for the inauguration dinner. Bummer...

5/7/2005 1:23:31 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [16]

School

I am so glad that my Technology Strategy class is finally over. I was literally counting down the last few minutes of the class earlier today. Don't get me wrong, I really love the subject but I thought that the delivery of the class was poor. The class has become very repetitive in the last 3 weeks. Every week, each team of two analyzes and writes two case studies before discussing them in class on Friday. During class, the professor never really lectures on the subject. To be fair, this class is actually labeled as a seminar, so a discussion-based class model is perhaps more appropriate than a lecture-based one. Even so, I don't think the professor has really done an effective job on engaging the students or stimulating their thoughts. As Matt said earlier today, this class definitely has the potential to beyond the limited 3 strategy frameworks that we learned from this class. Nonetheless, I got a good breath of understanding in business strategy, which should come in handy in my future management endeavors.

5/7/2005 12:36:17 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [17]

School

After 2 weeks of suspense, the finalists for the MIT $50k Competition were finally announced on Wednesday night. Sigh... Sorry to say, my team didn't make it to the finals. I was disappointed but the competition was a great learning experience for me and it certainly kindled the entrepreneurial spirit within me.

For old time sake, John, our team leader, organized a get together over a few pints of IPA beer at the Muddy Charles in the afternoon today. It was consolatory to note that none of us was dwelling on not making to the finals. We identified possible weaknesses in our business plan and outlined a 6-month plan for our venture. In hindsight, we were probably a little optimistic with the revenue streams in our business plan, as well as being 6 months too early in making a pitch to venture capitalists with our business. Nevertheless, everyone in the team still believes that the business and technology of our venture is viable. We'll see where this venture takes us.

5/6/2005 11:46:06 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [22]

Entrepreneurship

I am going to start today's blog with a rant. I have been a faithful user of TaxCut since 1997; but I have been having sore experience with their rebate system. I have not received my well-deserved rebate from H&R Block, the makers of TaxCut, in the last 3 years because somehow, in the eyes of H&R Block, I managed to screw up my rebate application every time.

What a contradiction, when it comes to advertising their mail-in rebate, H&R Block didn't hesitate a bit to print the words, "Mail-in Rebate" in large boldface to entice your attention to buy the most expensive version of their software. However, when it comes to the rebate filing process, that's a whole different story. Not only was the rebate coupon buried in a stack of other similar sized coupons, the printed instructions for filing the rebate were vague and in fine print. Worse, I have just received a letter from H&R Block informing me that I didn't follow the instructions and so my rebate application was disqualified. Well, they say "three times a charm" or "three strikes and you out". Based on this, TaxCut is certainly out. I am switching over to TurboTax when I do my tax return next year.

In closing, let me offer a food for thought. If a company is serious about passing the savings to its customers, why not offer us an instant rebate?

5/5/2005 11:47:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [19]

Rants

I was talking with Eimear at an Analog Devices function when Ray Stata, the founder of Analog Devices and the one who was honored in the naming of the Stata Building (Bldg 32) at MIT, walked passed us. Being partly goofy, I reached out to Ray to offer my hand for a hand shake. Surprisingly, he obliged and we started chatting. I have a lot of respect for Ray for cultivating a culture at Analog Devices that strived for innovation and learning during his watch as CEO. I was indeed an honor to meet him in person.

5/4/2005 10:17:49 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Personal

I should not have swum those extra laps today. I am so tired from swimming that I don't have the energy to finish the assignments that are due tomorrow. I am going to take a power nap to see if it helps. This also explains today's short blog.

5/3/2005 9:38:32 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [17]

Sports

Earlier tonight, John, my $50k team leader, asked me to go to a IDG Ventures sponsored networking reception that is organized specifically for selected few second year MBA students and some $50k participants. Being more serious about embarking on the entrepreneurial career path, I decided that it is time for me to learn the art of schmoozing.

I am a good communicator and I hold up on my own pretty well, but I think I am still a little light on the game of schmoozing. In a VC sponsored event, the person on the top of the food chain has to be the venture capitalist himself. There is a tendency that everyone at the event, me included, wants to reach out to this person. There's a saying: "It's not what you know, it's who you know." I could vouch for this adage from my observation earlier tonight. I discovered that if one's conversation involves someone that the VC knows, the conversation is usually going somewhere. Eventually, this person gets a business card from the VC. Conversely, a good sense of humor is good, but sometimes my dry and self-deprecating jokes maybe too much for some people in such setting to bear. Oh well... it's just another networking event. Never get too serious about it.

The whole schmoozing thing in business school is fascinating. My friend, Siobhan, once reflected her experience in recruitment events sponsored by investment firms at NYU Business School. She said that going to a recruitment event is like going to the bar. You need to play game and schmooze with the recruiters. If they like you, you get a business card from them or they will ask you for your business card. A day later, you email them telling them that how great it was great to meet them. If you are still in good standing, you get your first interview (or the first date). The whole experience relates very much to dating.

5/2/2005 9:30:22 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [21]

School

I was going to end being one of the losers who stayed at home on Saturday night if it wasn't for Blanche who accompanied me to watch the movie, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. I have the opportunity to watch other movies, including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I chose to watch this movie. I guess it is because I perceive this movie as a big case study on management, so I was intrigued by it.

Contrary to what you might think, this movie isn't a political documentary like Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. It is simply an investigative documentary on white-collar crime. I find the 110 minutes running time for the movie excessive long. Nonetheless, I still find the movie enlightening. Therefore, my verdict for the movie is, watch it if you have an appreciation for management or are curious to find out what actually happen in Enron. Prior to the movie, I always had the impression that Enron is just another good company gone bad. However, the executives were con men right from the beginning. It was amazing how they were able to get away with their accounting practices. One tactic that they use was called Mark-to-Market, an accounting practice that the SEC had approved at that time. Using Mark-to-Market, it means that if Enron starts a venture that generates $100 million years from now, they can claim that $100 million as income now. Enron executives used this trick to conjure up numerous phantom ventures that reported extravagant amount of revenues on their financials. I was even more shocked to find that Balance Sheet and Cash Flows are not required by the SEC for a company's earning report at that time. Do you also know that the cause of the California energy crisis in 2001 can be traced back to Enron? There are strong evidences that showed Enron power stations in California deliberately withheld power back so that Enron energy traders can overcharge California by selling electricity back to the state. At the end, it is heart wrenching to see that the innocent employees of Enron were left a worthless pension and without a job. In closing, I am going to quote Roger Ebert on his conclusion for the movie.

Strange, that there has not been more anger over the Enron scandals. The cost was incalculable, not only in lives lost during the power crisis, but in treasure: The state of California is suing for $6 billion in refunds for energy overcharges collected during the phony crisis. If the crisis had been created by Al Qaeda, if terrorists had shut down half of California's power plants, consider how we would regard these same events. Yet the crisis, made possible because of deregulation engineered by Enron's lobbyists, is still being blamed on "too much regulation." If there was ever a corporation that needed more regulation, that corporation was Enron.

5/1/2005 1:59:08 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [11]

Business

I stumbled upon an event that commemorates the 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War at the Kresge auditorium after leaving the Z-center yesterday morning. Even before coming to MIT, I have heard about Professor Noam Chomsky as an outspoken and controversial anti-war figure. Being curious about what he has to say, I went into the auditorium. Professor Chomsky talked about the history of atrocities committed by American soldiers and the failed American foreign policy at that time. With Vietnam War as a component of the lexicon of the Iraq War, the talk slowly shifted to the Iraq War. Prof. Chomsky thinks that the U.S. presence in Iraq, just like the Vietnam War, would not be reduced any time soon. In fact, the U.S. military presence would probably be extended because of Iraq's oil resources and its close proximity to Syria and Iran. Overall, I don't find his talk all that controversial as I had previously thought but there are some parts which I think are certainly partial to some extent.

After the talk, I roamed around the lobby of Kresge auditorium. Maggie, one of the bystander at the lobby, approached me and started preaching to me about the Socialists movement. She then changed the subject and charged the U.S. of imperialism because the Bush administration demanded that the Chinese stop pegging the Yuan on the Dollar. I am not a big fan of the Bush administration, but I decided to play the antagonist just to debate with her. I argued that the U.S. trade deficit is likely to be reduced and the price level improved if the Chinese were to allow the Chinese Yuan to float on the open market instead of being pegged on the Dollar. Furthermore, the Chinese economic is mature enough that floating its currency would not destabilize the country's economy. She then argued that capitalism is inherently evil and that it should be eradicated. That really struck a nerve with me and I proceeded to argue that no ideology is perfect; all forms of governance and market model have its own flaws and advantages. We need to understand that the stability of a country or society lies in the existence of the middle class. To achieve that, I still believe that uncorrupted democracy along with fair and accountable capitalism still offer the best chance of building a stable and viable society. Whether we have achieved this goal, that's another question.

5/1/2005 2:15:04 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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