This weekend is our first introduction to the U.S. Thanksgiving tradition. The holiday is a huge deal here. First, people generally get the Thursday and Friday off. Thursday is spent eating turkey and watching football; and Friday is spent fighting the hoards for Black Friday sales (As a side note, I didn't think the sales were that amazing in relation to their every day sales).
The four day weekend is very long. It is only Friday and I am trying to find things to do in all this silence. Our housing complex is very quiet. Usually, I hear the constant sound of flip flops against the pavement, but not this weekend. The silence is kind of unnerving.
Friday, November 24, 2006
San Diego Zoo
Pretty much ever since we met, Lindsey wanted for us to go to the zoo. We never did, usually because the Toronto zoo was on the far side of Toronto. When we moved to the OC, suddenly we were one hour from one of greatest zoos in the world, the San Diego Zoo. This was a great opportunity to do something that Lindsey liked.
This past Wednesday, I was finally able to find a near-full week day that I could devote to Lindsey. After meeting with my school small Group first thing in the morning, we headed off to San Diego. The zoo was really easy to find just to the north of the downtown area and five minutes from Hwy 5.The zoo has a really great layout. They have some great stations to see polar bears, gorillas, monkeys, orangutans, elephants and
rhinoceroses. The monkey area had a really neat set up of multiple levels. You could see some of the enclosures from a canopy level or down at the ground level. Lindsey really had a lot of fun. We were so focused on the animals we forgot to take any pictures of ourselves (but we got many great shots of the animals - seen here).
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Thanksgiving Feast
Lindsey and I went to our friends house this past Saturday for an early Thanksgiving dinner at our new great friends Gregg and Tammy. There was quite a crowd and the food was great. As coincidences may have it, many of the same people who participate in the bi-weekly poker game were invited. Even more of a coincidence, a poker game broke out. Philsan ran out and bought a $100 poker chip set and we were off!
Two games were played. I played the first and decided to end my poker night only to be surprised that Lindsey had drank enough to want to mix it up with the boys! Isn't she charming in the picture? Truth be told, she was in a great position driving the boys nuts. She had an opportunity to become the dominant player at the table only to suffer a bad beat. She went heads up with AQ against A8. Q83 came on the flop. Lindsey was in a great place, only to suffer her competitor (the man in the picture, James) to hit his second 8 on the turn. A crushing blow and a rough introduction to the cruelty of poker for poor Lindsey!
We, both, had a wonderful time that night. It was just a great night of good food and good people. This is great benefit of moving to a new area; opportunities to create new relationships with wonderful people.
Two games were played. I played the first and decided to end my poker night only to be surprised that Lindsey had drank enough to want to mix it up with the boys! Isn't she charming in the picture? Truth be told, she was in a great position driving the boys nuts. She had an opportunity to become the dominant player at the table only to suffer a bad beat. She went heads up with AQ against A8. Q83 came on the flop. Lindsey was in a great place, only to suffer her competitor (the man in the picture, James) to hit his second 8 on the turn. A crushing blow and a rough introduction to the cruelty of poker for poor Lindsey!We, both, had a wonderful time that night. It was just a great night of good food and good people. This is great benefit of moving to a new area; opportunities to create new relationships with wonderful people.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
I'm Linked In!
One of the career forums recommended Linked In for anyone with interest in the technology industry. Show check out my profile (below or to the right) and try to add me to your network!
Speaker Events At Merage
I wanted to take a moment to discuss and recognize the wealth of speaker events during an MBA program and specifically at Merage. As I mentioned before, extracurricular activities can stretch a student pretty thin, but they are only the beginning. During the school year companies want you to help them, students will plan outside social events, you will go to community networking events, and there will be numerous speakers speaking about numerous topics. I am a sucker for a good speaker, even if it isn't in my desired career direction, because I can usually learn at least one lesson that will benefit me in the future. I am going to highlight some memorable speaker events I have attended since I arrived.
The Boys at Wahoo's Fish Taco
Wahoo's is a chain of fish taco franchise in California and Nevada who are known for their underground marketing. Wahoo has always sponsored the extreme sports scene and punk rock shows as their main forms of marketing. This has helped them gain vast numbers of contacts in these related fields (music, movies, sports apparel manufacturers, etc.). This caused them to get loads of freebies which often just piled up in a warehouse. Enter Ed who is an amazing visual genius (see the logo) who got started in myspace very early on. One day Ed suggests that he give away some of their freebies on his myspace page. The response was overwhelming. He started contests of tell me or show me why you deserve X freebie and he would get responses from all over America. Wahoo uses this as a form of underground marketing. This alone is very cool, but it gets better. Because of the community Ed has built on his myspace page, other companies come to Wahoo to do joint give-aways! For example, new band +44 is releasing its new CD and the record company asked Wahoo to do a myspace giveaway. Or when the movie "She's the Man" was released they did a promotion giving away two passes to the L.A. premier of the movie. Wahoo's myspace marketing is not pervasive, it is always in the background. So kids New York want to go to Wahoo's Fish Taco despite never seeing a franchise because it is always tied to this cool stuff.
John Palmer, President of Southern California Region of Verizon Wireless
John Palmer presented in Merage's distinguished speaker series talking about strategic innovation. While his talk sort of outlined Verizon's history which most of us knew, he did give interesting details about the initial struggles of finding a common brand for a company that was comprised of a merger of a number of different companies. He also talked about how a Verizon needed to rely on a strong engineering team to decide strategic technological investments.
As a Merage Fellow, I get invited to a pre-reception party for select guests, sponsors and the speaker. It is a great networking opportunity and I was able to meet a number of interesting members of the Orange County community. I was very flattered to have our dean take me and another Merage Fellow to introduce us to John Palmer as "one of Merage's star pupils". One of those cool unadvertised perks of being a Merage Fellow.
Luis Villalobos, Founder of the Tech Coast Angels
Luis Villalobos is a great entrepreneur who helped build the largest angel investing group in the United States (and I guess the world). Angel investors are people who invest in very early stage companies typically before Venture Capital is interested. Where I was from, Southern Ontario, angels are not very common. Companies were often self-financed through growth and a company was lucky if they found one angel. That angel would be very careful about who he invested in because he would assume alot of risk.
Tech Coast Angels help share this risk by uniting all of the area's angel investors. The administrators of the Tech Coast Angels would vet any new business proposals and pick the best to present before its membership. During the presentation the members may grill the entrepreneurs. At the end of the presentation each member decides if he wants to invest in the company. An "investment" would be $25,000 with the goal of have a set number of investors wanting to do the investment that would hit the financing goal of the company.
Afterwards, in addition to the financing, the company would gain the contacts and expertise of its members. A win-win proposition for all involved that really helps launch a number of companies in the area. This would be an idea I would be interested in bringing back to Southern Ontario. Our angels are not united and I believe that is a key reason we do not see the same tech company activity as we see in California.
Luis, was incredibly interesting and I could listened to him for days. He discussed a number of case studies of his past experiences and common entrepreneur mistakes. Incredibly valuable talk, but much too brief.
The Boys at Wahoo's Fish Taco
Wahoo's is a chain of fish taco franchise in California and Nevada who are known for their underground marketing. Wahoo has always sponsored the extreme sports scene and punk rock shows as their main forms of marketing. This has helped them gain vast numbers of contacts in these related fields (music, movies, sports apparel manufacturers, etc.). This caused them to get loads of freebies which often just piled up in a warehouse. Enter Ed who is an amazing visual genius (see the logo) who got started in myspace very early on. One day Ed suggests that he give away some of their freebies on his myspace page. The response was overwhelming. He started contests of tell me or show me why you deserve X freebie and he would get responses from all over America. Wahoo uses this as a form of underground marketing. This alone is very cool, but it gets better. Because of the community Ed has built on his myspace page, other companies come to Wahoo to do joint give-aways! For example, new band +44 is releasing its new CD and the record company asked Wahoo to do a myspace giveaway. Or when the movie "She's the Man" was released they did a promotion giving away two passes to the L.A. premier of the movie. Wahoo's myspace marketing is not pervasive, it is always in the background. So kids New York want to go to Wahoo's Fish Taco despite never seeing a franchise because it is always tied to this cool stuff.John Palmer, President of Southern California Region of Verizon Wireless
John Palmer presented in Merage's distinguished speaker series talking about strategic innovation. While his talk sort of outlined Verizon's history which most of us knew, he did give interesting details about the initial struggles of finding a common brand for a company that was comprised of a merger of a number of different companies. He also talked about how a Verizon needed to rely on a strong engineering team to decide strategic technological investments.
As a Merage Fellow, I get invited to a pre-reception party for select guests, sponsors and the speaker. It is a great networking opportunity and I was able to meet a number of interesting members of the Orange County community. I was very flattered to have our dean take me and another Merage Fellow to introduce us to John Palmer as "one of Merage's star pupils". One of those cool unadvertised perks of being a Merage Fellow.
Luis Villalobos, Founder of the Tech Coast Angels
Luis Villalobos is a great entrepreneur who helped build the largest angel investing group in the United States (and I guess the world). Angel investors are people who invest in very early stage companies typically before Venture Capital is interested. Where I was from, Southern Ontario, angels are not very common. Companies were often self-financed through growth and a company was lucky if they found one angel. That angel would be very careful about who he invested in because he would assume alot of risk.
Tech Coast Angels help share this risk by uniting all of the area's angel investors. The administrators of the Tech Coast Angels would vet any new business proposals and pick the best to present before its membership. During the presentation the members may grill the entrepreneurs. At the end of the presentation each member decides if he wants to invest in the company. An "investment" would be $25,000 with the goal of have a set number of investors wanting to do the investment that would hit the financing goal of the company.
Afterwards, in addition to the financing, the company would gain the contacts and expertise of its members. A win-win proposition for all involved that really helps launch a number of companies in the area. This would be an idea I would be interested in bringing back to Southern Ontario. Our angels are not united and I believe that is a key reason we do not see the same tech company activity as we see in California.
Luis, was incredibly interesting and I could listened to him for days. He discussed a number of case studies of his past experiences and common entrepreneur mistakes. Incredibly valuable talk, but much too brief.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Thursday Night Poker
As a means to regularly socialize with my classmates I started up a regular poker night. Every second Thursday me and 7 other students head out to our place for a few hours of friendly poker. The timing works great because on Thursday, between 4-6pm, we have a social hour were the students gather outside the business school and have a few beers. When the beers dry up, then we hit my place for poker and pizza. Since we usually do not have class on Friday, Thursday evening is a regular "pub" night for Merage. By the time poker is over, we are ready to have a good time.
Lindsey enjoys having the company at our place. She gets along well with the players. So far, one of the players' wives Lindsey likes has come over to visit while we play giving Lindsey some company. This is becoming Lindsey's big social event.Last Thursday was our third event and it seems to be quite popular as I have had a rolling waiting list to get into the game. Who would have thought MBA students would like to competitiveness of poker??? We play a straight up Pot Limit Texas Hold'em until one person remains. In the first two outing James proved to be the dominant player, but this week he met his match. Wakeem proved that alcohol can make you a better player as James was stonewalled trying to read Wakeem's blank face (primarily because of the level of alcohol in Wakeem's system). Wakeem took down the giant to win first place and become the new champ!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Weather Update Canada
Hello Canada! I just wanted to update you that we enjoyed a balmy 30+ degrees Celcius today making us dearly miss London's wonderful November weather.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Amazing Coastal Drive
This Saturday, Lindsey and I decided to drive along the Pacific Coast Hwy. I had been working quite a bit with the exams and homework assignments being due, so I really felt like a break to enjoy the area. Until now, I had only gone on one tour of the area since I got here (shame on me).
We drove out on the PCH through Laguna Beach, Dana Point, turning around at San Clemente. We then drove back through the towns towards Newport Beach stopping at Corona Del Mar. Corona Del Mar has a really great scenic point and beach. I forgot my phone in the car, so I didn't take a picture, but I will remember it next time.
After enjoying the view for a little while we got back in the car and headed north to Huntington beach. We drove up the Huntington's main drag and headed home. I like Huntington Beach; it has a fun vibe, but it doesn't have the dramatic scenery of Laguna and Dana Point.
One day we will have to ride the PCH through L.A. up to Santa Monica. We are also trying to plan a trip to San Diego to check out the zoo.
We drove out on the PCH through Laguna Beach, Dana Point, turning around at San Clemente. We then drove back through the towns towards Newport Beach stopping at Corona Del Mar. Corona Del Mar has a really great scenic point and beach. I forgot my phone in the car, so I didn't take a picture, but I will remember it next time.
After enjoying the view for a little while we got back in the car and headed north to Huntington beach. We drove up the Huntington's main drag and headed home. I like Huntington Beach; it has a fun vibe, but it doesn't have the dramatic scenery of Laguna and Dana Point.
One day we will have to ride the PCH through L.A. up to Santa Monica. We are also trying to plan a trip to San Diego to check out the zoo.
Rock Opera Experience
Lindsey and I decided to get some culture, so we went to see a rock opera performance by a New York opera group at UCI's Barclay Theatre. First, the Barclay Theatre is a great venue to see a show. Every seat seems great and the sound is pretty good.
The show was good, but it didn't knock our socks off. The group played some of opera's most memorable songs souped up with rock 'n roll style. While there definitely some great moments of great creativity and talent, many of the songs lacked creative incorporation of the rock music with many of the arrangements using similar rhythms.
While not memorable, we were entertained and were able to get out for a night of culture, just the two of us.
The show was good, but it didn't knock our socks off. The group played some of opera's most memorable songs souped up with rock 'n roll style. While there definitely some great moments of great creativity and talent, many of the songs lacked creative incorporation of the rock music with many of the arrangements using similar rhythms.
While not memorable, we were entertained and were able to get out for a night of culture, just the two of us.
Named to the Merage VCIC Team
Every year incoming business students faces a similar extra-curricular delemma. There are so many interesting extra-curricular activities to do, but to try to do even half of them threatens the student with being spread very thin. Even worse, as all students get more out of their activities if there are more participants, the student's new colleagues lobby him to participate in more activities. It creates a environment where it can be difficult to set limits and say no.
This week I learned that I was named to the E-C activity that I had identified as my first choice, the VCIC competition. The Venture Capital Investment Competition is where business schools send one team of students to compete against other business schools. In the competition the teams act as a venture capitalist, evaluate real entrepreneur's business plans, interview the entrepreneurs, and make recommendations to real venture capitalists. As UC Irvine is relatively new to the competition and doesn't quite have the brand power of a Stanford or Haas (yet), it has to compete in a wild card round where the winner will advance to the regional competition against the aforementioned schools.
Given my experiences on the side of the small, struggling entrepreneur, I am excited to learn more about the venture capitalist perspective. I am honored to be selected for the Merage team. The team consists of five students. The quality of team is impressive, so I am anxious to learn how we will stack up. As I mentioned this my first choice of E-C activities, so even if I don't do anything else this year, I will be happy.
This week I learned that I was named to the E-C activity that I had identified as my first choice, the VCIC competition. The Venture Capital Investment Competition is where business schools send one team of students to compete against other business schools. In the competition the teams act as a venture capitalist, evaluate real entrepreneur's business plans, interview the entrepreneurs, and make recommendations to real venture capitalists. As UC Irvine is relatively new to the competition and doesn't quite have the brand power of a Stanford or Haas (yet), it has to compete in a wild card round where the winner will advance to the regional competition against the aforementioned schools.
Given my experiences on the side of the small, struggling entrepreneur, I am excited to learn more about the venture capitalist perspective. I am honored to be selected for the Merage team. The team consists of five students. The quality of team is impressive, so I am anxious to learn how we will stack up. As I mentioned this my first choice of E-C activities, so even if I don't do anything else this year, I will be happy.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Mid-Term Update
2 down - 1 to go. They were good exams - fair. I am not a big believer that exams tell the truth of our knowledge, but I certainly have fun with their challenge. The class averages of the exams have been above 80% (its funny that law school's policy with overachievers (at least Canadian schools) is to beat down the overachievers and bell them up, and the MBA (at least this American MBA) policy is to let the overachievers overachieve and bell them down later (this is another topic).
After going through Law school without buying many books, it is amazing how doing your readings help you when testing your knowledge of a subject. I am not too concerned about marks. I need to keep a 3.0 average (as a canadian I can honestly say "what the hell does that mean? A's, B's, 80%, 70% anyone?"), but at this point I do not feel my fellowship is in jeopardy. Just a guaging point to see if I am on track.
After going through Law school without buying many books, it is amazing how doing your readings help you when testing your knowledge of a subject. I am not too concerned about marks. I need to keep a 3.0 average (as a canadian I can honestly say "what the hell does that mean? A's, B's, 80%, 70% anyone?"), but at this point I do not feel my fellowship is in jeopardy. Just a guaging point to see if I am on track.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
