MBA Words of Wisdom

Yeah, as I was browsing for that picture just now to add to the post on Thailand, I automatically selected the folder with all my MBA stuff in it, just because why would I ever look in any other folder? It's little moments like that when you want to punch yourself. (I know it's feasible, and might even be a really good idea, but if you're inclined to comment on this post and second the motion--don't.)

Anyway, this little pearl of wisdom actually came from before the trip. I forgot to post it then, and just saw it in reviewing some class notes that I clearly blew off for over a month. This is courtesy of another management strategy professor (not the same one I was picking on a couple months ago), and when he said it he spit it out about as fast as you can read it. It almost got by me entirely:

"Let me answer the first question first--I actually don't have an answer to that; it's a really good question."

The thing was, he used a tone of voice and inflection as if his non-answer were the answer, and then he moved on just as quickly. If it were possible to have vanished in a puff of smoke right after saying that, I think he would have. Clever man.

Catching Up

Say you spent a couple of weeks abroad on one of the best vacations of your life. Every day was new, interesting stuff. You spend a week relaxing on the beach with your wife, actually relaxed for the first time in over a year. When you come back to reality, you really wouldn't be inclined to blog that much about it either. Yeah, bitch and moan, bitch and moan. But, that's why the blogging spirit really hasn't moved me in the 2 weeks since I was back. That and the fact that during those 2 wonderful weeks abroad, I didn't crack a book...so then I paid for it. And I was jet-lagged as hell, and sort of in a half-asleep daze for that same time. Sort of a dark and hazy period. Fear not, TU is fully back now, in the sense that I feel like sharing my smart-ass comments on the world around me. (And of course, any smart-ass comments that Uyen has as well--except the ones about me.)

First, let's get you guys caught up on Thailand. I really wanted to post something as soon as we got there, so I could make everyone jealous in real-time, but this will have to do. Except now I'm going to make myself jealous as well...of myself. Whatever. First, the coup. Impact on vacation: zero. Which was good, because here was our standard daily routine.

MORNING:
Wake up
(Worked out some days.)
Go to breakfast buffet at hotel (free, thanks to Uyen's points). Stuff ourselves on tropical fruits (and bacon).
Lay around on the beach and read. (If it's lie, someone correct me--I always forget.)

AFTERNOON:
Still laying around on the beach
Go back to room and change in time for happy hour at 5:30 (free, thanks to Uyen's points).
Go to happy hour. This was our dinner appetizer.

EVENING:
Go back to beach and watch sunset (about 6:15 every night).
Walk down the beach to local restaurant that is literally an open-air platform on the beach, for a dinner good, dirt-cheap Thai food.
Take water taxi back to hotel.
Some nights (after we got sunburned), we jumped in the pool to cool off.

We did make some deviations: we went to the main town on the island of Phuket one day, we went snorkeling one afternoon, we did some shopping in the craft stores in town near our resort one afternoon, we made some arts and crafts ourselves, and we rented a jetski for a little one afternoon (I did a little more on my own, too). But mainly, it was as described. Oh, and there were really no visible effects of the aftermath of the tsunami. At least in all the areas we went, they have cleaned up and rebuilt quickly.

If we both disappear and leave all our obligations and commitments behind us any time in the next 6 months or so, don't do anything. Play it cool, and wait until the heat is off. Then, if you want to find us, start asking around in Phuket.

So, that's it. Attached should be a photo of the standard Phuket sunset.

Or, if you want, go to flickr (www.flickr.com). Our album of all photos from the trip is under my ID, pellchar41. I think you might have to create a flickr account to see it, but it's not much hassle.

You Can't Spell "Coup D'Etat..."

Without TU! Seriously, all is well here in Thailand. We are at a resort in a secluded area of Phuket, we have been in communication with the US Embassy, etc., and there is no cause for alarm right now. So, we'll be keeping up on the news developing here by going online daily. Other than that, we'll be lounging on the beach like we've been doing for the last several days. Yes, it is a tropical paradise here. Not that we're trying to make anyone jealous....

A Note on the Knock-Offs

Although my story of Sung's "warehouse" and our various adventures to and from might seem pretty ridiculous, I later found that one of my classmates had a similar adventure--he actually was taken down an alley and through someone's kitchen to reach their back office. I'm starting to wonder if these "trips" are staged so that we'll believe we're really getting the good stuff. It was still cool at the time.

Hard-Core Museuming (Thursday, 14 September—cont)

After our experience with Sung, we were a little worn out. I failed to mention this specifically, but all the haggling can take a bit of a toll on you. Although, in all fairness, I found it to be not as difficult as haggling with Arabs, in the small bit of exposure I’ve had to that—there’s less wailing and gnashing of teeth with the Chinese, although there will be sighs, rolled, eyes, and snorts of exasperation at your initial offers. I found that the general way things go is you grossly underbid what you’re willing to pay, the seller grossly overbids, you each give a little, make some vague accusations in broken English. (Them: “This only good for you! I no make money!” You: “You still make money! This cheap in China!” I don’t know if they really understood that, but it made me feel better to say it.) Then you each make one fairly big concession, then you get near what you’re willing to pay, then you start to walk away once. Then they ask for a little more, and you make a small gesture, and pay what you wanted. Of course, a couple of times I think we really bid too low, because we walked and they didn’t seem to care. One time later this afternoon I had to eat crow and come back for some t-shirts after I threatened to walk and the guy called my bluff. I realized I was quibbling over the difference between paying $2.50 and $2.75 a t-shirt. So, he won that one.

Anyways, after the hustle and bustle of the marketplace, we headed out to the museums, of which Shanghai has a couple of nice ones, as I believe I mentioned before. First we hit the Shanghai Museum, then the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. The overall theme of both museums, intentional or not, is to make you feel a little inadequate of your culture and nationality. The Shanghai Museum does this by referencing the past, the UP Museum by looking at the future. In the Shanghai Museum you can see that the Chinese have been making beautiful crafts, art, and metalwork for, oh, the last 4,000 years or so. Then you go see the scale model of Shanghai in the UP Museum, and the scope of it kind of blows you mind. Just a note on how to think of the place: imagine a city covering as much turf as LA, but dense like NYC, and moving at a much faster pace than either.

The food today was awesome as well. We pretty much completely abandoned the “Don’t eat street food” advice by this point, and were happy we did so. Buns and dumplings for breakfast, noodles and some sort of deep-fried bun/dumpling combo for lunch, and then for dinner one of my classmates, who visits here on occasion (and speaks Chinese) hooked us up with 1) a recommendation for a great Shanghainese restaurant, and 2) a list of items to order, written in Chinese, so all we had to do was show up and give it to our waitress. We had little sweet barbecue pork ribs, lion’s head meatballs (best we’ve ever had of this dish), soup dumplings (of course), noodles with peanut sauce, and a fatty pork dish. We actually didn’t eat all of that, although we tried. The best part was that although none of this food was especially exotic, none of it was actually on the menu, at least not the one they gave us. It was a great way to finish off a day of full-on Shanghai.

“This Is My Number One Business!!” (Thursday, 14 September)

Today I played hooky from the scheduled class sessions, as TU was unable to accomplish all the things we wanted to do on Wednesday afternoon alone and, hey, priorities. Having said this, I feel that in fact I got more insight into business in Shanghai from my experiences Thursday morning than I did in any of my company visits. We started the day with the obligatory excursion to find some “name-brand” goods at one of the local markets recommended to me by a classmate. Upon entering the market, which is looks like a department store from the outside but is just filled with tons of little stalls on the inside, run by supposedly independent merchants. (I suspect they’re all in cahoots, at least at the places like this that specialize in knock-offs.)

Anyways, as often happens (in stores, on the streets, wherever), as I’m walking around perusing knock-off fleeces, sunglasses, and ski pants, a guy asks if I want a watch. This time I say yes, so he takes me to the little back room in his stall, which was the first of several interesting stops this morning. As we’re back there having some chit-chat (by which I mean gesturing and speaking broken English), he mentions that he would be happy to sell me a couple of Rolexes at a reasonable price. I tell him that I’m partial to Breitlings, or maybe a Tag or Omega. At this point he decides that we need to continue our negotiations in a place more befitting the level of transaction we’re discussing, so we head across the way to the back of his wife’s shop. Of course, the back of his wife’s shop is a no-shit secret room, which one accesses by reaching into the cabinet, pulling out the latch which allows half of the wall, which is hung with clothing racks of fleeces and such, to swing open, and you step back into a little closet-sized space in which he houses the full watch selection. We continue our discussion and come to agreeable terms, and then as we are concluding our business, he asks, “Handbag?”

Now, if there’s one thing we’re all about here at TU, it’s handbags, and shopping for them Seriously. We. TU is a solid unit. So I say, sure, Then things got even more interesting. Out comes Sung. I doubt Sung is any older than me—probably a couple of years younger. Sung is apparently the handbag guy, and perhaps the whole brains of this little part of the operation, to hear him tell it. Sung is a friendly, smiling, sincere fellow. He has the spiky hairdo common to 20-something Asian guys, and wears blue jeans, Adidas tennis shoes, and a white button-down shirt. He wouldn’t look out of place walking around in San Francisco or any American city with an Asian population. Not shady or menacing at all. He speaks the English of someone who knows just enough to take care of his business. In general, he seems to have a really positive outlook on life. He tells us that for “Handbag, we go to warehouse,” as we walk out of the back of the market building. The front entrance is on a big street that you see a fair number of tourists on—the back is on a smaller street, which doesn’t really have tourists, but TU pressed on. Handbags, remember. And, frankly, by this point my curiosity was piqued.

We walked half a block and around the corner into the entrance to a somewhat worn-down office high-rise. We then got into the elevator with Sung and headed up to the 20th floor. At this point TU was feeling a little nervous, just because the halls in this building were narrow, twisty, and not well-lit, and it was pretty apparent at this point that if we rounded a corner and met 5 of Sung’s colleagues who decided that instead of selling us handbags and wallets, they were just going to add ours to their collection, there wasn’t much we were going to do about it. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened. Our faith in Sung’s entrepreneurial spirit was justified. After a few twists and turns, and Sung motioning to us to not talk (since presumably English-speakers would seem a little out of place in our current location), we arrived at an unmarked door. Sung knocked, and a girl opened it. We were now at the corporate offices of “GetConsultant,” according to the plaque just inside the door. No furniture, no phones—but in the back, you swing the bookcase aside, and then you’re at the handbag warehouse. It’s not actually a warehouse—it is, however, a room with shelves stocked floor to ceiling with handbags, and next door is the one with quite a nice selection of wallets for men and women.

So, Uyen shopped for a while, I looked at a few wallets (which I passed on), and made small talk with Sung and a couple of his friends about their preferred brands. Then terms were reached (after a fair amount of negotiation), and we headed back out. On the way back, we found out that Sung was not a Shanghai native, but had been living there for about 6 years, working all the time at this trade. He liked to expound on how this was now his “Number one business! Today, this is my number one business! It is good luck (pronounced gruck) for me, gruck for you!” Number one business in China!” He did mention that the reason he had moved his handbag shop out of the market itself was that police raids were becoming too frequent, and said that every day they got someone’s shop. (“Everyday they take one shop! And I have two!!”) However, it didn’t really seem to upset him much. Like I said, Sung is an entrepreneur and an optimist. I liked him. I’m sure he ripped me off, but it was worth it.

A Note on the Pictures

Yes, I know they're nonexistent. I can't get them to upload for some reason. We'll work on it later. Off to see more of Shanghai now.

Wednesday, 13 September

I have thus far failed to mention breakfast. It is a buffet, and it is included in what my school pays for. So, buffet + free = good eating. Plus, this is a really solid buffet, and nicely includes Western and Eastern cuisine. Suffice to say that we get to eat both dumplings and bread pudding for breakfast every morning. Although we usually don’t put them on the same plate. Yeah, that’s right. Bread pudding for breakfast. I highly recommend it.

Today, I had the afternoon off, so we returned to the cafeteria of a mile of Chinese food. Some pictures of the bounty are included, but they really don’t do justice to the intensity of this place. You would need to smell and hear it to get a true impression. By, the way, the entire meal pictured cost less than $8. Having the yuan pegged to the dollar might be an unfair trade tactic, but you appreciate its desired effect (keeping Chinese goods cheap for the rest of the world) when you’re over here.

We then wandered through the YuYuan Gardens (Uyen for the second time), which are basically a collection of historic buildings and grounds of rich people’s houses from a couple hundred years ago. The level of intricacy and craftsmanship evident in all the buildings, gardens, art, etc, is quite impressive. After that, we did some shopping. I did some successful haggling, and scored some good deals (I think), but then screwed it away in one store through improper math (it all looks like monopoly money--I got confused), leaving our shopkeeper with a tidy profit.

In the evening, we went to M on the Bund, which is kind of on the swanky side for us, but was worth every penny. Actually, it wasn’t that bad—the entrees were only in the $30 range, and this place is one of the nicer restaurants in the city. We sat and ate, and looked at a great view of all the buildings across the river, much like the one pictured a couple of nights ago (this place was literally just a few blocks away). We also watched an old British guy (50s or early 60s) who was clearly on a date with a Chinese call girl, who couldn’t have been more than 20. One wonders why he felt the need for her company at dinner, since they couldn’t really talk to each other, and she didn’t even eat. Interesting phenomenon.

And we ate...and ate. Crab soufflé, veal with potatoes and sweetbreads, salt-baked leg of lamb, etc. It was all great. And then I talked Uyen into getting the dessert platter for two, which included an espresso crème brulee and dark chocolate mousse the likes of which we have never encountered before. When you combined a dab of each and ate it, it literally caused your heart rate to jump a little. After that we walked along the water, and we were going to go to an old jazz club....but then a serious food coma kicked in, and we went back and passed out. We did manage to extend our bedtime to at least 11 PM, though, so we feel we’re making headway.

Tuesday, 12 September

Oh yeah, the weather sucks here. Well, it doesn’t suck in every possible dimension, but it has rained outright at least 2/3 of the time since we have been here (including all day Tuesday), and we have only seen about 15 minutes of sun (and weak at that). First, my day, since it was less interesting. I got to tour a steel factory, which was cool, since I still like big machines and other things that appeal to most 9-year-olds. We saw the carbon-steel processing line, which was neat because you saw how they started with a glowing-hot block of steel about the length and width of a full-size passenger van, and a couple of feet thick, and worked it, over the course of a half-mile or so, into a roll of steel at least a hundred yards long, and probably less than an inch thick. Probably the most impressive aspect of the process was that we were up in a catwalk, at least 50 yards away from the assembly line, and when one of these big blocks/ribbons of orange-hot steel went by you clearly felt the heat radiating from it. We also got some insight into the Chinese view of safe work practices, as there were spots along the line with big signs that said “RADIATION ON,” with all the appropriate radioactive hazard symbols, and no visible form of shielding. Oh, and you could see through the steel as it went through this part of the process, so it was obvious they were indeed x-raying the hell out of it, or something like that. Oh well, what are you gonna do.

Uyen spent the day visiting museums, and trying to stay dry. First she hit the Shanghai Modern Art Museum, then the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, then the Shanghai Museum. These are actually all very well-regarded museums. Also, they all let you take pictures, even of their artifacts and art that are thousands of years old. The preservation standards are still lagging a little. The Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, however, trumpets the fact that Shanghai is an “eco-friendly” city, and sets lofty goals for functioning in harmony with the environment. This reaches the level of full-blown irony when you travel around the city. It’s not horrendous, but green, it ain’t. You can tell the air is polluted; dust and exhaust fumes abound. (This is a city of 20 million people, by the way. My statement about a million people on bikes and scooters was actually a gross understatement.) The business and civic leaders here seem aware that as they become a more prominent international city, people are going to expect a certain level of environmental consciousness, so they pay it lip service, but it seems like just that. The common attitude Uyen and I ran across, is “Oh, we’re green! We planted trees and flowers! See, look at the pretty trees and flowers!” And the reason for this is, there’s just too much other stuff going on here. It’s hard to be green when you’re building at the pace this city (and country) is. It’s easy for us to sit around in America and judge, but when you’re over here and witnessing the enormous pace of change, and sense of urgency that permeate this place, it’s easy to see how people are more concerned with progress in the broader sense of trying to build more, make more, create more jobs, etc. Anyways, I’m not sure where I ended up going with that. China = Busy. There, forget the last paragraph and focus on that. The Urban Planning Museum has a bitching scale model of how the city will look in 2010, which is what is pictured here. The model itself practically takes up an entire floor of the museum apparently. I am looking forward to seeing it.

Tuesday night we wandered around an area of town called XinTianDi, which is basically an acclaimed urban-renewal area. It has lots of shops and restaurants, etc., but they are built into the old building fronts of a traditional style of Shanghainese house from the 19th century. The only reason the whole area wasn’t razed in the redevelopment is that the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party was in that area, so it became an historical landmark. Let’s just say that I’m sure the area turned out just like Mao and the boys intended. Think of any sort of upscale outdoor mall/outlet center you know, and tack on some old-looking Chinese building fronts, and that’s what you got. After that, we went and had dinner at a very chic Japanese restaurant. The food was quite good, however. Sushi (not pictured) was solid, and they included some varsity items that I had not tried in a while. The pork ribs, displayed above, were also really good. Not particularly Japanese-tasting, but good. This picture does not do justice, by the way, to the mass of these ribs. These are ribs that need to find their way to a good barbecue joint in the East Bay somewhere. Then, again, we got really tired, and went back and passed out.

Monday, 11 September

Uyen went sightseeing with some of the other spouses, while I sat and listened to people talk about...something. Uyen by far had the more interesting day here, as she discovered the cafeteria that we revisited today, which literally has a mile of food. She literally wandered around half the city on foot, and managed to wander down a few alleys here and there that definitely didn’t see many tourists. For example, in one of said alleyways she witnessed one Chinese woman giving another a pedicure in the middle of the alley, across from a makeshift restaurant (which there are plenty of here). They also wandered into a bird and fighting cricket market. Yes, fighting crickets. Apparently it was mainly a bird market until the whole avian flu thing, and now they do most of their business in the cricket trade. All this was made more interesting by the fact that she was walking around with the husbands of a couple of women from my class, and they are both 6-foot-tall white guys. This presumably provided Uyen with a decoy to use in case they ran into any trouble.

We also learned (me through talking to my classmates, Uyen through personal experience on the streets) that the million bicyclists and scooter-riders here do not stop for people in crosswalks—apparently when you are turning through pedestrians here, the law of gross tonnage applies. Fortunately, Uyen is (as of yet) unharmed. She did learn to shadow a Shanghainese person when crossing, 1) to have an idea when to dart through the swarm of 2-wheeled menaces, and 2) to serve as a buffer should someone fail to stop. It’s a good thing she was raised a city girl and can adapt to these things. To reward herself (and justly so), she found a massage parlor around the corner from the hotel and got a good, hour-long foot massage for RMB 120, which is about $15. Not bad.

Monday night there was a class mixer at a bar down on the Bund, which is a part of the old city on the river. The view was nice, as you can see from these pictures. We left early, got food, and went home and passed out early (which is a recurring theme). I haven’t mentioned the time difference, but we are 15 hours ahead of the West Coast people reading this, and 12 hours ahead of the East Coast people. So, just staying up to a normal time is the equivalent to our bodies of staying out all night and going to bed at dawn. Fortunately, getting up early is easy, because it is like getting up after having slept in all day...after staying up all night.

TU Has Landed

That’s right, we’re in Shanghai. Travel went very smoothly in total, which was a minor miracle for me at least based on my planned itinerary, which started in Reno, NV, at 6:20 on Saturday morning, with me having literally stayed up all night drinking. I reaped the dividends of this noble effort by being able to sleep way more than I normally would have been able to on the SFO-Shanghai flight. This was also aided by Uyen graciously cashing in years of hard-earned points from all her consulting gigs to get us seats in economy plus, which isn’t the Ritz of airline seating, but for short people like us more than suffices in the leg room and comfort department. I may have to get her back out on the road—we need someone in this relationship to have status of some sort.

In Shanghai, travel actually got a lot more interesting last night getting from Shanghai Pudong airport to the hotel. First, we took the maglev train, which is the fastest in the world. During the day, it goes up to 420 km/h (260 mph). We unfortunately did not get to appreciate its full speed, because we took it after 5 PM, so we only got up to 300 km/h (186 mph). Also, it was dark, so we didn’t get the full speed rush. It was cool, however, when you looked out the window at the highway next to the train tracks and it looked like all the cars were just standing still, because we were blowing by them so fast.


Taking the taxi from train station to hotel was an adventure of a different sort. Our group of train riders was immediately fallen upon by the black market taxi drivers. Being adventurous (or clueless and jet-lagged), we all piled into several cabs. Uyen and I, and one of my classmates, I think proved to be the savviest of the lot, or at least we got to the hotel cheapest. We kept insisting that the guy turn his meter on, which he really didn’t want to do. At first, it was 200 yuan to go to the hotel (Our response: “Meter,” with appropriate pointing.) Then it was 150 yuan (“Meter.” At this point the meter actually came on.) Then is was “Meter 280! No meter, only 150!” (“Meter.”) Then it was 135. (“Meter.”) Then it was 100, with a tinge of desperation. (“Meter.”) Then he kicked us out of the cab. In all fairness, he was much nicer about it than he had to be—he yelled out the window to a legit cabby driving next to us, and got him to pull over to take us. Then both cabs pulled over to the side of the busy 4-lane road and we swapped out. The final fare: 42 yuan (on the meter). So, getting kicked out over that last 58 yuan might not have even been worth it, since that’s only about $6. Fun though.

As far as Shanghai in general....wow. This is about the most developed place in China, but if they can get half the country half as good as this...believe the hype. There’s a lot of people, a lot of stuff, and a lot of energy here. And a lot of food, which Uyen and I will soon taste hopefully. We already tempted fate by finding a noodle house around the corner from the hotel last night and eating there, even though it was an establishment that clearly does not cater to foreigners. It was hard on Uyen b/c the waitresses kept talking to her assuming that she spoke Mandarin.

...And We're Back, Bitches!

First, a long-overdue happy birthday to the better half of TU (that's the "U" part), who turned some undisclosed age a while ago. Celebrations were held by all, it was a good time. [Following sentences removed by editing committee].

Second, a big shout out to my brother Dave, who has been the butt of a joke or two here, as I was safe and secure in my knowledge that he did not have ready Internet access, and thus would not be able to see what I was saying. No longer. In addition to being a full-fledged homeowner (of a home much bigger than mine, and for much less money), he has also re-joined the 21st century (Was that a real estate pun? My dad will probably fine me.) and now once again can go online from the home. Although I hear that whenever I posted some jibe at him before, instead of reading it, he just got told about it from 3 different people.

Nothing much new to report. My life has been spiraling out of control into a dismal vortex of school and work, but I think I will be able to pull myself out for a while. And, if anyone would like to read a kick-ass paper on the future of Apple and iTunes in France, I'd be happy to pass one along to you.

Other recent noteworthy TU events include participation in the Cable Car Chase run weekend before last in SF. Based on the name, I'm sure you can all imagine the route it took. Suffice to say, it was not pleasant or easy, but we made it, and actually faster than I anticipated. [Following comments also removed by editing committee.]

That's all for now. We leave for China this weekend, and hopefully we will be able to post from over there.

Plus ca Change...

Standby, TU is going to get tabloid for just a little bit.

I left upstate SC a long while back, with many a vow never to live in such a white-trash-infested backwater ever again. An impetuous, angst-ridden teenage vow (and I don't think I ever used the term "white-trash-infested" until just now), but the imperative was clear. Needless to say, the fates have mocked me (just a little) ever since. A couple of years in Pensacola, which is the only city I know of that competes with Spartanburg in "Happy Birthday, Jesus" arrangements of Christmas lights per capita. And then on to the beautiful central valley of CA, where our nearest "big city" is Fresno.

And speaking of white trash, guess who is from Fresno? You guessed it, or maybe not--K-Fed. Kevin Federline. Mr. Britney Spears. And they are proud of him. How do I know all this? Because on the radio a while back, I heard an ad for "K-Fed Day" at the Fresno minor league ball team. Don't believe me? Check it out at http://www.fresnogrizzlies.com/schedule/homestand/. (It was August 26. And y'all wasn't ready.)

You can truly go across the country and be right at home. Although, in fairness, I've only seen maybe two rebel flags since I've been out here. Thank god for the small things.

Head Above Water

Yeah, right now it ain't....so don't expect much blogging from this half of TU for the near future. Don't worry, if I'm too busy to write in the blog, it means only that I am buried way too far in EMBA b.s. So, it's not like you're missing much. Although, if anyone wants, I have a killer 20-page research paper on the strategic position of salesforce.com (a software applications company) that I would be happy to post (it was a team paper, but I'm sure my groupmates wouldn't mind). I've offered it up as light reading to a few people already, but strangely, no takers.

Uyen planted flowers in our flowerbox this weekend--makes the balcony look a lot nicer.

OK, one postscript: I just ran my standard spell check, and the program did not recognize the word "groupmates," which I realize may not technically be a word, at least not in the strict-interpretation, OED-type definition. But the suggested substitute was "gravimetric." Gravimetric?? What the fuck does that even mean? And that's the closest this thing can get?

Yes, I'm aware it makes me a nerd to find fault with a computerized spell checker.

Our New Motto

You will notice we have a new motto here at TU, featured just under the blog title. This is also the MBA quote 0f the week. It was not actually uttered by anyone in the class; it was actually said by Wu Jichuan, the Chinese Minister of Information Industry in the last 1990s. (If anyone cares, it was in reference to widespread uncertainty and speculation on the future of Qualcomm and other American CDMA-based cellphone companies in the Chinese market. This uncertainty was caused primarily by the fact that the Chinese government--mainly Wu himself--had been fairly schizophrenic on the issue up to that point. If you want to hear more, I have a great case study on it which I would be happy to forward to you. And if that's not enough, I have about a zillion more. You name it, you got it.)

Posts have been slim lately due to finals this past weekend. Finals are over, but still to go are two large research papers, so the semester is over...but not really.

I actually went out and hit the Alameda bars on Saturday night, for the first time ever, as Uyen was gracious enough to grant me a kitchen pass due to some bachelorette/girl's night events. Fun all around, and it provided me the opportunity to confirm some theories that we were recently debating in TU. Namely, it proved to me that if you have a half-sleeve tattoo of an octopus, you are just not that bright. I will explore this topic in more depth soon, but right now it's late and I've got a research paper to...uh...research.