Business Books

The Big Short by Michael Lewis: if you want to read just one book about the financial crisis, read this one. Michael Lewis is sharp and funny; I listened to the audio version of this book and was laughing out loud while walking to the office in the morning.

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh: from the founder of Zappos, this book is a great read for anyone interested in innovation, starting companies, and “company culture”. Especially if you don’t believe such a thing exists.

The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely: if you liked Predictably Irrational, Ariely’s previous book, you’d like this one too.

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson: by the founders of 37 Signals (and creators of Ruby on Rails), this book is a collection of short, easy to digest (maybe not to implement…) chapters about starting a company that might be different than the usual run of the mill startup. Couple of representative chapter names – “ignore the real world”, “learning from mistakes is overrated”, “planning is guessing”, “why grow?”.

Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face—and What to Do About It, by Richard S. Tedlow: Tedlow is an HBS professor and if you’re missing HBS cases, this is the book for you. Interesting stories from the days of Ford Motors to the present about companies and business leaders being in denial.

Good Boss, Bad Boss by Robert I. Sutton: will make you think about the people you manage and your own boss. Some of the advice isn’t exactly ground-breaking (along the lines of “don’t be a jerk”. Really?) but some is more useful.

Being Geek: The Software Developer’s Career Handbook by Michael Lopp: I would argue this is useful reading for anyone working in a technology company, not just software engineers.

Wired Magazine: it’s not a book, but Wired was a lot of fun to read this year. I just renewed my subscription – figured that for less than $1 an issue, I can afford it.

Non-Business Books

Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy (Deluxe Boxed Set: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Plus On Stieg Larsson): one of these rare cases where the hype is justified. This was my favorite book (or 3 books, to be precise) of the year by far. Original, breathtaking plot taking place in Sweden, with a cool female hacker as the protagonist. Who needs more?

I just got this specific edition two days ago and it’s beautiful – 3 cloth-bound hardcovers, plus an additional booklet with essays about Stieg Larsson.

After you’re done with the books, you can enjoy the movies – which surprisingly manage to stay true to the spirit of the books and are highly recommended too.

Worth Dying For by Lee Child: I didn’t think a book about a modern day cowboy in middle America with no cellphones or other technology would even keep me awake, but this page turner didn’t let me go to bed. I finished it in about two days and enjoyed every second.

Faithful Place by Tana French: a detective mystery taking place in Dublin, Ireland. Half the fun is the Irish jargon, the other half is the realistic characters and the surprising plot.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen: not a bad read, and will definitely make you feel like you’re in the know, reading one of the most talked about books this year (and an Oprah pick!). Franzen’s book will make you annoyed, sad, entertained but you won’t stay indifferent. Very readable and funny.

The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball: if you like Michael Pollan-like books, you’d like this one. Not much of a plot but the subject matter is different enough from normal life to make it interesting.

If you’re an MBA student or applicant, check out my older b-school book recommendations post.

oh, and hi everyone, long time no see! Happy Holidays & Happy New Year from Seattle!

And as always, curious to hear what other people think – what books did you enjoy this year?

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Other than that, all is well. Cheers from sunny (!) Seattle.

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A couple of administrative announcements –

As my MBA is drawing to a close, I’ve been thinking of what to do with the blog. As amazing as it may be, I don’t think I’ll continue writing here in the current format. I won’t be closing down or deleting the blog or anything drastic like that, and there might be a new MBA / HBS post once in a while. After all, I love this domain too much (and so does google, so it’s hard to let go). But I also believe it’s best to quit while you’re ahead – and what’s a better time than winning Clear Admit’s Best of MBA Blogging Top 10 (the MBA is nice and all, but this is my real achievement). But after all, this chapter in my life is over and I’m moving on to a new chapter, in a different place, doing different things, that are mostly unrelated to HBS or my MBA.

So bottom line, expect less updates here. If I ever start another blog I promise to post a link here, and in the meanwhile, if you just can’t get enough of me, you can follow me on Twitter, my latest addiction – like a blog but minimal effort and I don’t need to pretend you know how to write.

My plans for this summer mainly include flights. In between flights there are stops in SF, Boston, Texas, Canada, Israel, Brazil and Seattle.

And a few deep thoughts –

Not mine, of course. So I wanted to eloquently summarize my HBS experience. To write about the transformational experience or the lifelong friends or the unemployment rates. But seriously, I think I need some time and perspective to be able to write something meaningful about such a profound experience. Fortunately, my dear friend and blog reader Andy wrote such a beautiful, thoughtful comment after my last post that I realized it would serve as a perfect summary to this part of the blog. I completely agree with Andy’s thoughts here. So here you go, and thank you, Andy for all of your support for the past, wow, 10 years:

I just wanted to take a few minutes to wish CS, and all her fellow graduates, my congratulations for a job well done!! Over the years I’ve been to many commencement speeches and over the years they all have pretty much the same message. Usually the message is how you, the new grads are our future and, how you’ll soon see the reality of the outside world, and so on and so on. I believe the class of 2009 is in such a rare moment. A moment full of difficult challenges that few classes before them have faced. This economy, this moment in time has finally made the commencement speeches of the past finally have more meaning then every before.

Your class will be faced with new challenges such as finding new ways to do business. Many of the old ways are outdated and just don’t seem to work anymore. Your class will have to work harder than any class before you. Much of today’s economy is the result of business people with little vision just being content to live in a business as usual world, that world has dried up.

There was a day when you graduated Harvard with an MBA and you walked right into a job…well as many of you have discovered it just isn’t that easy this year. You will have to be more resourceful then those who came before and perhaps create your own jobs. You will be expected to conduct business and be held to higher morals and ethics then ever before. Just remember to use “common sense” something that isn’t so common in the thinking of many of today’s CEO’s.

I believe in our young people, if anyone can solve the many problems that face us today it is you, the young graduates of 2009. Your challenges are many, I believe you’re up for them, and the result will be a better world for all. Good luck !! And my deepest congratulations!

Finally I would like to share a poem with you, I shared this with CS many years ago. It is a poem that I had on the wall of my office throughout my working life. I turned to it almost everyday, and each time I recited it, it had new and deeper meaning than the day before. I hope you will find something in it as well. The only outdated part of the poem is the gender reference at the end…kindly disregard Mr. Kiplings short sightedness =) The poem is called “IF” by Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

And have to conclude with a few photos from Spring in Cambridge. Optimistic!

More here: http://computersexy.com/gallery/v/SpringinBoston_052009/

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I got a nice birthday present: “2008-9 Best of Blogging” nomination from ClearAdmit. ClearAdmit is an admissions consulting company that runs an MBA blog which is an excellent resource for MBA applicants (I used to read it when I was applying). So the nomination, as they say at HBS, is an honor, a privilege and a humbling experience. I also got a cool icon:

The birthday and the nomination motivated me to update many parts of the blog – the pages that appear at the header (best posts, blogroll) have been updated, as well as other things.

Here’s an updated map of where my readers came from this year:

Loved the dot in Hawaii!

Last year for the birthday I wrote about “the exotic world of blog statistics“, courtesy of Google Analytics. (being a geek,) I had a lot of fun with that, so this year I decided to write

Google Analytics – The fun continues

Part 1: You Ask, CS Answers

This is my gift to you, my readers. Sometimes you reach my blog by asking questions in google. I am posting some of the most probing questions coming from google, along with my answers. Hope you find them helpful, I put a lot of thought into them.

“which is best section at hbs?” – Section I.

“what did you write for hbs essay” – yes, most people write essays to get into HBS. For me, I just sent the link to my Facebook profile.

“can you finish hbs in one year?”
1. no
2. why would you want to?

“hbs do i stand a chance?” – sounds like the beginning of a Haiku:

hbs do i stand a chance?

autumn leaves are changing colors

bunnies squirrels and crimson cash.

“what does hbs looks for in the mba essays?” – people who google so eloquently.

“would you like for a while in the united states?” - as Borat says, “yes, it is niiiiiiiice”

“why did you start the mba program?” – it’s a prerequisite for graduating.

“admitted to hbs what next?” – you must send a $1000 deposit to at least one HBS blogger. Contact me for details.

“advantages of hbs faculty diversity” – they speak with multiple funny accents.

“can i write my harvard essay in third person” – no, she definitely doesn’t recommend it. It’s not like you’ve done something to deserve it.

“can people send embarassing information about me on facebook?” – yes. They can also find out your name and address from your google searches. Muhaha!

“cs hbs muhaha” – muhaha to you too!

“closest hotel to hbs” – Doubletree Guest Suites Boston. Chocolate chip cookies are to die for.

“cooking in hbs dorms?” – no, unless electric spoon counts. Some dorms have shared kitchenettes (=microwave).

“differences between hbs and stanford gsb” – 30 degrees in the winter.

“do i put mba at the end of my name?” - would look pretty weird, no? “John smithmba”?

“do students like hbs?” – no.

“do students read blogs” – yes, and I just updated my blogroll.

“does hbs have majors?” – no, we specialize in “general management” (=we’re equally bad at everything)

“hbs what students do after graduation?” – try to pay back student loans.

“how can a hbs mba student earn by working part time?” – write fantasy books.

“how do older applicants get into hbs?” – vicariously.

“how long does it take to get from hbs to boston airport?” – usually, 15 minutes. With construction on Storrow Drive, indefinitely. Avoid (take I-90 instead)

“how to analyze distressed companies in excel?” – as always, google does a fabulous job bringing you to the experts in the subject matter. I would recommend the function sum().

“how to write an essay with a “wow” factor?” – use some HBSpeak.

“is combination of mba and cs good?” – serious answer, yes. I think it’s a powerful, relatively unique combination (geek power + biz power).

“mba cocktail party what to wear?” – I recommend this:

(photo from here)

“no class on fridays at hbs?” – no, this is not true. We learn Monday-Friday. Life is tough.

“obsessively look at ex’s facebook” – I have no idea what you’re talking about.

“weird guy essay” – I’ll defer that to half the guys in my section.

“what city’s nickname is ‘the emerald city’?” – Seattle! (soon to be known as “home”)

“what is the most amazing thing you done?” – cannot discuss in a family-friendly blog. On a serious note, I consider leading this and helping this organization as two of the highlights of my HBS experience.

“what medical scientist would you most like to meet” – the guy who discovered caffeine. Wow.

“what to do during hbs visit” – answers in another one of my classics.

“what to wear to harvard mba information session” – I recommend this:

(photo from here)

“why don’t people tag themselves in their pictures on facebook?” – would you tag yourself if you looked like this?

(photo from here)

“why mba students are driven by money & power?”- that’s completely superficial and inaccurate. We’re also driven by alcohol & sex.

“why would you like to meet thomas edison?” – Heard he’s ridiculously good looking.

“what to wear to hbs interview” – I recommend this:

(photo from here)

Part 2: Google Anomalies

This year, my blog got really ahead in google rankings. I don’t know if that says good things about the blog or bad things about google, but I’m enjoying the results in the form of many more visitors coming to the blog as a result of a google search.

The blog appears in the first google results page for some relatively obvious keywords, like “HBS blog” or “Israeli MBA blog”, but some of the keywords are somewhat… obscure. Here are some of the amusing keywords where the blog  appears on the first results page:

being a second year student – the first result, even without quotes!

Greg Brenneman – this guy is the former CEO of Burger King and Quiznos, and I’m the 6th google result (because of this post).

hbs lehman smoking – first google result! surprising, I would expect many more people to write about it…

“best looking mba students” – second google result! (with quotes) Not surprising of course. btw, one of the people who reached the blog after searching for this phrase spent 54.40 minutes on the blog. I’m sure he (she?) was reviewing the list of recommended books for MBAs.

hbs mba don’t try and be superhuman – first google result. Sometimes I’m just amazed by what people search for.

Thanks again for being such a wonderful crowd throughout these two years. If you feel like giving me a gift, leave a short comment!

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The Best Coffee Shops in Cambridge

If you live in Cambridge, chances are you’re a student. Or a professor. Or another human being who thinks real life revolves around reading, writing, spending money and stalking people on Facebook.

After almost two years of living and studying here, I present you with the list of places I like to sit in – alone to study or with friends to talk (and study). Note: Although HBS is on the Boston side of the Charles River, to get decent coffee one has to cross the river to the Cambridge side. Hence my test for whether a day is really cold is whether I’m brave enough to walk 15 minutes to get my cup of coffee or not. I’m happy to say that so far no more than 7 days qualified as “really cold days” according to this scientific method.

Criteria

My criteria for judging places are very simple:

1. Coffee: the coffee has to be good – i.e. Italian (cappuccino, espresso) . The regular American “Filter Coffee” – a.k.a liquid horse manure – does not qualify.
2. Free WiFi: without free wireless internet access (or at least access to Harvard University Network – free for Harvard students) any place is almost worthless as a study place.
3. Space: should be easy to find a spot and not feel guilty about occupying it for 3 hours over one cup of (small) cappuccino.
4. Restroom: needs to be close, and clean.
5. Temperature: the place needs to be warm. 80% of the year here is winter, and apparently heating is something that many coffee shops try to save on. On the other hand, I admit I might be more cold-sensitive than the average person.
6. Food: can be useful when you’re hungry. However, don’t expect anything spectacular on that front (after all, it’s not Orna Ve’Ela… or Lehem Erez… or even Aroma)

So without further ado, here they are. I also created a Google Map with all of them, it’s embedded at the end of the post.

Peet’s 100 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

It’s Peet’s – nice chain, but nothing special. Because of its central location in Harvard Square it’s always full of (sometimes strange) people.

Coffee: it’s Peet’s, so it’s pretty good. Tip: if you don’t want to start running around like an Energizer bunny, ask for a single shot in your small cappuccino (default is two shots of espresso, which will keep you up till next week).

Free Wifi: no, but you can get Harvard University pretty consistently.

Space: usually hard to find a spot, especially on weekends or nice days. Most of the time you can get lucky. However it’s pretty crowded and noisy.

Restroom: yes, two, and quite clean.

Temperature: bearable when I use my coat as a blanket.

Food: none, unless you count chocolate-coated berries.

Overall:

Finale 30 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Fun dessert place to take your girlfriend to.

Coffee: consistently good.

Free Wifi: no, and access to Harvard University network is patchy at best.

Space: it’s not really the kind of place to go and sit for hours, unless you sit outside in the patio (when weather permits). However it’s a great place to go have a cappuccino and amazing desserts with your friends, and there’s usually space for that.

Restroom: yes, clean.

Temperature: good.

Food: good desserts (it’s not Paris, but it’s trying to get close). Surprisingly, the non-desserts food is pretty good too. Tip: it’s worthwhile to get a Finale Sweet Rewards card – for every $50 you spend, you get $5 back, as well as other benefits (free cake on your birthday – yay!)

Overall: (4 for the food, 3 for not really being a place to sit and study)

Finale

Finale Patio

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Finale – that’s the way I roll (or read cases)

Dado Tea 50 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

(there’s another location on 955 Massachusetts Avenue but I’ve only seen it from the outside)

In the first year I spent most of my time here, thanks to the convenient location and the adequate space. Lots of students, good music (though if you stay there for a while the music totally repeats itself), and “authentic” cashiers (“Have a wonderful day, and stay focused”).

Coffee: it’s good. True to their name, they also have an impressive variety of different teas.

Free Wifi: yes! Harvard University is also accessible.

Space: despite its central location, I almost always find a free place here. The window seats are especially nice, but can get pretty cold.

Restroom: no. You have to take a key and go to the restroom which are at the end of a corridor (which gets really cold during winter).

Temperature: might get too cold. The lighting isn’t amazing either.

Food:very original… they have all sorts of “healthy” stuff, which also manages to be tasy. Their sandwiches are made on the spot and the soups and salads are also good. Sweet stuff include nice cookies and somewhat strange cakes.

Overall:

Window seats @ Dado Tea.

Darwin’s 148 Mt. Auborn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

(also 1629 Cambridge Street, but I’ve only been there once)

Its “secret” location gives it an air of “only people who know how cool this place is come here” – which is kinda true. Full of students and other cool people, comfy sofas.

Coffee: very good, and the mugs are really cute.

Free Wifi: yes, but not throughout the entire day.

Space: can be hard to find, especially on weekends. Be prepared to shared real estate, too. A bit too dark to read.

Restroom: yes… downstairs in the basement, “under (permanent!) construction”.

Temperature: can be pretty chilly, especially near the windows.

Food: the made to order sandwitches are the highlight of this place. The other things are nice, too.

Overall: (the location is a bit off and there are space problems)

Darwin’s.

@ Darwin’s – “02138: The most opinionated zip code in America”

Anadala 286 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

A very cool place with an “off the beaten path” feel to it, perhaps because of its location right off Western Ave. The location also means that I try to avoid going to this place at night.

Andala belongs to “our cousins” from the middle east, which reminds me of home on the one hand but sometimes reminds me of the unpleasant sides of home on the other hand.

Coffee: very good. If you’re getting a cappuccino, verify they’re not going to “decorate” it with cinnamon and / or cocoa.

Wifi: yes!

Space: you can almost always find a spot here, maybe except for really nice weekends. The window seats are my favorite.

Restroom: yes, downstairs, after the photo exhibition of refugee camps.

Temperature: usually ok. A bit chilly by the windows.

Food: really good. Perhaps I’m biased because I’m coming from the same part of the world, but what can be better than lentil soup + pita + fresh salad? They also have ridiculously good freshly squeezed fruit juices (apple, pear, orange and more) and smoothies. This is where I go when I want to eat normal people’s food.

Overall: (could have been perfect if not for the location, the chairs that are a bit uncomfortable and the “middle Eastern” music they sometimes play)

Labane, pitot and olive oil @ Andala. Yum!

Starbucks

(I go to these 3 locations: 114 Bishop Richard Allen Dr, Cambridge. MA 02139 in Central Square, 750 Memorial, Dr Cambridge, MA 02139 near Trader Joe’s, and 36 Jfk St # 2, Cambridge, MA 02138 in the Garage in Harvard Square)

You can diss Starbucks all you want, but when I go there I know I’ll get a consistent experience, friendly cashiers and drinkable coffee.

Coffee: I think it’s actually not bad. In the summer, their Frappuchino’s are a lot of (sugary and fat) fun.

Wifi: yes, but complicated – if you get a Starbucks card and use it once a month, you can use their AT&T network for two hours for free every day. In the Garage location you can also get Harvard University network.

Space: Central Square is usually not crowded. Memorial Drive is very small, so you get get unlucky. The Garage is crowded but turnover is high.

Restroom: yes, decent, in all locations.

Temperature: for some reason the Garage is really cold, I don’t know why.

Food: it’s ok. When I’m really hungry I try to go somewhere else, but their snacks are not bad (the Madeline cookies are divine, unfortunately).

Overall:

Tall Frappuchino Cafe Vanilla no whipped cream for me, please.

1369 757 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

(There’s another location but I only go to this one)

Cute place, but wifi isn’t free.

Coffee: very good.

Wifi: not free!

Space: it’s pretty crowded and sometimes completely packed.

Restroom: yes.

Temperature: ok.

Food: real food and not just coffee shops food. It’s pretty good.

Overall: (no wifi and no space)

Crema 27 Brattle St., Cambridge MA 02139

The new kid on the block – opened this summer I believe. Great coffee, great location, great design and free wifi, which means this place is usually full.

Coffee: very good.

Wifi: free.

Space: usually full, including the second floor. Turnover is pretty high so you might get lucky if you’re willing to wait a few minutes. But it’s very crowded and noisy.

Restroom: yes.

Temperature: the air conditioner on the second floor has a life of its own – be sure to avoid.

Food: ok real food.

Overall: (no space)

Google Map

View Coffee Shops in Cambridge, MA in a larger map

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Here’s what I mean:

• Recruiting: in this economy, it is very hard to find jobs. Many first- and second- year students at HBS are still struggling to find a summer internship or a full-time position. Some have accepted offers that are far from their ideal position. Some have put their search on hold, waiting for better times. And some are scrambling hard to fit in school work, job search and social activities. You may be surprised, but yes, HBS is suffering hard in this economic environment. I’m not sure how we compare to other schools, but compared to previous years the situation is much, much worse.  Check out this article at the Harbus for an insider view of recruiting at HBS this year.
• Weather: by now I can’t complain (for a change) – Spring has definitely arrived, earlier than last year I believe. However, winter this year has been tough, much worse than last year’s. The Charles River was frozen for most of winter and we had quite a few snow storms.
• Conferences: I have shared with you my experiences in helping organizing the TechMedia Conference last year and the Marketing Conference this year. I also attended many other conference, including the Entrepreneurship Conference, the Luxury Goods Conference and the India Conference. They draw amazing speakers and discussions are fascinating. This year, Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, taking place at HBS and drawing more than 1000 participants, was named “One of the top 12 conferences of the world” by Forbes, along the World Economic Forum and TED.
• Charity and non-profit involvement: this topic deserves a separate post, but let me say that the quality and quantity of non-profit involvement of the HBS community – students, faculty and staff – is amazing. You can read about school-led initiatives here, but there are so many more student initiatives. As I said, a special post to follow.

Hope this helped presenting the “other side” of HBS. We do, however, still like to party and travel. :)

Congratulations to all Round 2 admits to HBS! You’re in for two amazing years. Feel free to shoot me an email and introduce yourselves – this year I had a blast walking around school and seeing people whom I got to know as readers of the blog. Can’t believe the class of 2011 is already being formed… and that the class of 2009 (mine) has less than a month of courses left.

If you’re looking for some other high-quality HBS student reading material, I recommend these HBS blogs. They don’t have cute sheep icons but are still decent reads:

Inside HBS

Harvard Bound (girl!)

Sync

On a last note, I was recently included in this list of “100 Best Blogs for MBA Students”, which is kind of a cute marketing thing for their website since 100 MBA blogs practically include all MBA blogs out there. I was somewhat  amused by the way my blog was described: “This blog offers entertainment and insight into being a student at Harvard Business School”. Ha! Once I used to be a highbrow, reputable publication. Now I’m a tabloid! But at least a good one. :)

And since you know I like pictures, here are a couple of recent ones:

My ugly building with melting Charles

Today’s economy? In Harvard Square.

Happy Passover!

Related posts:

1. Cyberposium 13, (a bit about) Recruiting and some culture!
2. First Snow
3. First week of school

The second term at HBS usually contains a lot of long weekends, including a few 4-day ones. They are supposed to provide students with free time for job searching – going away for interviews, company visits, and networking. I think this year we may have even more long weekends then usual, “thanks” to the financial crisis and the fact that, unsurprisingly, less students have already secured a job compared to last year.

However, in reality, this is what the past two 4-day weekends have looked like for the typical HBS student: (note: not me. My last couple of weekends to follow)

Long weekend #1: Vail

Thursday

2:30pm: running out of class, rushing to my dorm room to pack for my 4pm flight to Vail, Colorado. I signed up to this ski trip back in October, when I still had my amazing offer from Lehman. So much for that, but after paying $1300 for this ski weekend, there’s no way I’m giving up on it. So what if it’s already sunk cost (I don’t buy this concept anyway). I’ll find a job next weekend. Oh, but that’s when I’m going to… so maybe the weekend after that.

4pm: got to the airport just on time, but flight is delayed. I’m actually not flying direct to Vail, because all the flights going from Boston to anywhere normal are ridiculously expensive (even for HBS-former Investment Banking standards). So today I’m flying through Utah, but hey, I saved $175.

2am: finally in Vail. At least there was a McDonalds at the Utah airport.

4am: I’m sharing a room with 5 other HBS guys, and one of them is snoring really loudly.

Friday

8am: I make a strategic decision to skip breakfast today.

11am: another strategic decision to hit the slopes a bit later. Wow, the strategy course is really paying off.

3pm: after lunch, time to show them what I got. I almost break a leg, but I think this girl from Section D really likes my moves.

4pm: getting dark already… time for the Après Ski action!

5pm-?: got drunk. Don’t remember the rest of the night.

Saturday

10am: got an early start, gonna hit the slopes baby!

10:30am: it’s -5 degrees outside (-39 with wind factor), but I paid 1300 bucks for this, and nothing gonna stop me.

12pm: my nose is about to fall off. I call it a day.

1pm: lunchtime. The girl from Section D is giving me weird looks.

2pm: it’s never too early for Après Ski!

3pm: the girl from Section D keeps avoiding me.

6:20pm: apparently last night I threw up on her.

7pm: going quietly to bed.

Sunday

6am: how much can a man sleep?

8am: damn it, it’s too cold for skiing.

9am: decide to go to the Spa instead.

12pm: wow what a great massage. $300. I should really get a job… next weekend. No, the one after. For sure.

12:30pm: update Facebook status: “hitting the slopes in Vail baby!”

4pm: everyone’s playing cards at the house of the girls from Section D. I’m not invited. Going to read cases instead.

8pm: why did I pay $1300 to sit in my room and read cases?

8:05pm: you’re having fun. you’re having fun. you’re having fun. you’re having fun.

8:10pm: why the heck did I pay $1300 to sit in my room and read cases???

Monday

4am: the cheap flight back to Boston leaves early, so I get an early start for the day. That’s awesome, I’ve always wanted to become a morning person.

7am: flight to Cincinnati is delayed for 3 hours. Weather. Damn this snow.

3pm: flight to Boston is delayed for 4 hours.

10pm: fell asleep on the plane instead of reading the rest of my cases.

2am: finally back to my room in McCulloch. The shared bathroom suck, but at least nobody’s snoring.

Tuesday

8:41am: cold call in FIN2. I mumble something about aligning incentives just to find out I’m talking about the LCA case.

10am: break, finally.

10:05: trying to come up with more synonyms to “amazing”, “awesome”, “unbelievable”, “the best” when asked how was my weekend.

Weekend #2: Brazil

Friday

7pm: at the airport, flight is delayed. Damn East Coast winter. So glad to be out of here, have to get out after 4 whole days in Boston one really needs a vacation. HBS is a really tough school.

8pm: pondering the interview I had to postpone. The interviewer sounded kinda skeptic when I told him my aunt’s cat died. Well, his bank will probably go bankrupt soon anyways. And with the $3700 I paid for this weekend back in September, there’s no way I was to cancel. Got to have your priorities straight in life. After all, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

9pm: Really excited about this trip! What can be better than the Carnival in Rio and then 4.2 star resort on the beach?

2am: flight from Miami is delayed.

6am: in Brazil! Hola! I knew my Spanish would pay off one day!

8am: the hotel staff isn’t impressed with my Spanish. Perhaps because they all speak Portuguese. HBS exposes me to such profound cultural experiences.

6pm: wake up. Well, the parties only begin at night anyway right?

7pm: update Facebook status: “in the Carnival in Rioooooooo!!!! Gonna drink some Sangrio!”

8pm: get robbed.

8:30pm: go back to the hotel room and read my cases. I’ll definitely have some “comments” for next week’s BGIE case about Brazil.

Saturday

8am: getting an early start, today is a whole new day!

10am: a Brazilian girl, really similar to the girl from Section D, smiles at me.

10:02am: she walks away when she realizes I was already robbed yesterday.

12pm: go to this club and get drunk with my HBS buddies, just like Tommy Doyle but earlier.

?: don’t remember the rest of the day.

Sunday

5am: getting up early to catch the internal flight to the beach with the long name. Cocktails with a small umbrella here I come!

8am: flight is delayed. Damn East Coast Wint… hey, wait a second!

4pm: finally in the resort. I’m in a room with 7 other guys from HBS and there are two cockroaches under my bed.

4:02pm: however free alcohol is indeed included in our premium all-inclusive resort. I love this place already.

5pm: get drunk with the HBS guys, play Beer Pong. Kinda like One Western Common Room.

Monday

10am: go to the beach. Fall asleep.

3pm: wake up, completely burnt, except for a heart shape one of the guys drew on my chest with sunscreen. Or was it the girl from Section D?

5pm: ouch it hurts, and I look like a tomato. Going back to the room to read my cases, but can only do it standing up because sitting or lying down hurts too much.

Tuesday

5am: starting the journey back… only 5 flights to Boston!

7am: flight is delayed.

12pm: second flight is delayed.

5pm: third flight is delayed.

10pm: fourth flight is delayed.

4am: fifth flight is delayed.

8:40am: my FIN2 class starts without me. Damn, why aren’t “flight delays” excused absences? HBS is really tough.

10am: landed in Boston. Catching a cab to campus.

10:20am: my BGIE class about Brazil starts without me. I wonder if they talk about airlines in Brazil.

11am: reached campus. There was construction work on Storrow Drive. Cab cost $60.

11:40am: heading to Spangler cafeteria to grab some lunch before I go to LCA.

11:41am: it’s Brazilian Cuisine day. I strategically decide to skip lunch.

11:45am: use LCA’s 3 lenses framework to decide I’m going to sleep.

8pm: wake up. Going to read cases for tomorrow. At least it doesn’t cost me anything.

Wednesday

8:30am: “The weekend was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Brazil is an awesome country, so culturally diverse. I feel so fortunate HBS has given me so many opportunities to explore different countries with my best friends. It is truly a Transformational Experience.    What am I doing next weekend? Oh, I have a couple of interviews in New York…”

8:33am: “Panama next weekend? $5000? That sounds amazing!!! any spots left?”

My last couple of weekends

First weekend – San Francisco: Michael Mina, Ozumo, Boudin Bakery, Filoli, Cafe Del Doge, SF MOMA, SF Mechanical Museum, Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Second weekend – Boston: Dinner and Gran Torino with a friend, gym with another friend, sleeping 9+ hours every day, dinner with a friend and then Oscars with few HBS friends (still sooooo boring!), dinner at Oleana with another friend, The Reader (she only got the Oscar for being naked and looking old), studying at a coffee shop and running into another friend, brunch in Beacon Hill with an MIT friend, Boston Common, a nap, talking to my family, getting things done, writing this post!

Cafe Del Doge, University Avenue, Palo Alto. Almost as good as the coffee in Tel Aviv.

San Francisco from the 47th floor.

Filoli (Fight-Love-Live)

Related posts:

1. HBS Admit Weekend – March 2007
2. Hello from Boston!
3. Taking Good Trips

Life Update

First semester ended and we had our winter break. I went to NYC for a week:

Then I came home to Israel for the rest of the break. Spent some quality time in Eilat with my family, some time with friends in Tel Aviv (though as always, I left feeling I didn’t do that enough) and also tagged along with the HBS Israel Immersion.

The immersion was awesome – a group of ~40 HBS students, led by Prof. Dan Isenberg, came to Israel for a week titled “The Israeli Entrepreneurship Miracle and High Tech Industry” (or something like that). They visited Israeli start ups, met successful entrepreneurs, VCs, multinationals like Google and Microsoft and of course did the required touristy things – Jerusalem, Masada and the Dead Sea. You can read about the immersion in this beautiful Harbus article.

The immersion took place at the same time of the mess in Gaza strip. I’m so happy the school decided not to cancel it, and only 5 (out of 49) students canceled their participation. Since the immersion took place around Tel Aviv, participants had a safe experience and I’m so glad they got to see the Real Israel firsthand.

Some photos from Eilat are here.

Me pedaling in Timna Park near Eilat

Job Update

Right before the break I have decided to sign up with my summer employer, the company that sells things online. So I’ll be going back to Seattle, WA after school. I’m very excited about it! I love the company that sells things online and Seattle’s pretty cool too. Kind of far from Israel, but still cool.

I’m also very happy I won’t have to deal with recruiting and have my last semester free to have fun (and study, of course). As you may guess, recruiting isn’t a pretty sight right now. Postings in the HBS Job Bank are significantly down compared to last year, and many people are still struggling to find jobs. First year students, who have their interview week coming up next week, barely got interviews. Many companies that came to campus last year aren’t coming this year – finance, obviously, but also tech (Google is one example). The atmosphere isn’t particularly pleasant here, and I can only imagine what it’s like in other schools.

On the other hand, I don’t want to stir unnecessary panic. I also think many good things can come out of this. For one, the HBS Entrepreneurship Conference that took place on Sunday had a record number of attendees, so maybe the next big startup will be founded this summer by two HBS students who couldn’t find a consulting job. :)

btw, the conference featured two excellent keynotes by the CEO of Pandora and the founders of Kiva.org, which you should definitely visit if you haven’t already.

Weather Update

Came back to campus to find it covered with snow. The Charles River was pretty much frozen. This winter is much worse than last year’s – I just looked at my photos from last winter and the river was only a bit frozen. Today, on the other hand, I saw people *walking* on the river (and they weren’t Jesus).

* -12 (Celsius) is the temperature we experienced on Friday and Saturday – record low. We were actually lucky, the forecast was -17. But believe me, -12 is bad enough. Not unbearable, but painful to walk outside.

Earlier this week, we received the following reassuring letter from HBS:

Dear residents,

A weather advisory has been issued for this area beginning on Thursday, January 15, 2009 through the weekend. During this time, expect to see the coldest temperatures in several years, with a forecast of highs in the upper single digits and lows bottoming out at negative 3 degress Fahrenheit. When you factor in the wind chill it will feel significantly colder. Friday, January 16, looks to be the coldest day. Residents are asked to take special precautions to ensure their safety and comfort in doors and out during this time.

MOVE ITEMS AWAY FROM HEAT SOURCE. Keep radiators and baseboards free of items and do not block heat sources with furniture. This will allow heat to enter the room and circulate.

SECURE ALL WINDOWS AND DOORS. Please contact the Management Office if your A/C unit is drafty and needs insulation. Make sure to shut all blinds/shades at night to keep warm air in and to keep the cold from radiating off the glass.

SET HEAT TO ITS HIGHEST SETTING. Make sure your heat knob is turned all the way to the left and that your radiator feels warm. In One Western Avenue, make sure fans are set on HIGH. Additionally, do not lower the heat when leaving your home and never turn your heat off.

ALLOW A SLOW DRIP ON SUSCEPTIBLE FAUCETS. If your bathroom or kitchen is located on an outside wall, the best prevention for freezing is to maintain a steady drip from your faucet.

DRESS IN LAYERS. Dress in several layers of loose-fitting, lightweight clothing, rather than a single layer of heavy clothing. Outer garments should be tightly woven. Wear a hat, mittens (rather than gloves) and sturdy boots, protecting your extremities. Cover your mouth with a scarf as needed.

Please keep in mind that this is severe weather and that you must dress accordingly, even in doors.

That was kind of scary… but an overkill. I slept with the heating on on Friday night (for the first time this year) and woke up in the middle of the night since it was just unbearably hot.

Today is already *much* better – it snowed and the temparture is “only” -1. The snow was beautiful:

See more photos here.

Though I think my photos from last year were prettier – perhaps it was first year excitement (or using my more professional camera). They’re here.

Till next time… I’ll try to write my next post faster than this one.

And to everyone who was admitted to HBS on Round 1 this week, congrats! You’re in for an amazing experience. Drop me a line and introduce yourselves.

Related posts:

1. Photopost
2. Countdown
3. First Snow

• Thanksgiving with good friends in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Ice skating!
• A beautiful weekend in Montreal, back when trees were changing colors. Check out photos here.

• HBS “Hell Week” in the Bay Area, was pretty heavenly actually (sunny and t-shirts!). Check out photos here.

 

• Buying Amazon Kindle just before traveling to the Bay Area (a present from my parents for my birthday ;)) was a life changing event. Seriously. I love this thing. I read a lot more, I started going to the gym more often (reading newspapers and blogs on the elliptical is so much fun), and travel – especially flights – has become a much more pleasant experience. Not to mention the coolness factor of having it and showing it (off) to other people! Highly recommended.
• Enjoying fall here at HBS. For some reason it felt shorter and less pretty this year – compare my photos from this year to my photos from last year. Or perhaps last year I was just more excited by it all.

 

• Speaking of excitement, I attended talks at HBS by Michael Dell (CEO of… Dell) and Paul Otellini (CEO of Intel). Oh, and dinner with Paul Otellini. Last year I think each one of these would have generated a post of its own, this year I’m just like “oh, CEO of Intel. Cool”. (not really – I was still pretty excited to see both of them!)
• Signs of the crisis #1 – CEO of Intel gets a standing-only room when he comes talking at HBS.
• Signs of the crisis #2 – HBS creates a special website dedicated to the crisis. The site looks really good, it’s nice to know at least some institutions still have money.
• Signs of the crisis #3 – Harvard endowment fell 22% in the last 4 months. I’m glad I’m graduating from this place before they run out of money for toilet paper.
• Signs of the crisis #4 – postings in the HBS job bank for graduating students went down significantly compared to last year. Some people are definitely not happy to be graduating right now.
• Attending the most impressive talk in a long time with Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place, a venture that will end the world’s dependency on Oil (starting with Israel). What they’re doing is so amazing, and he’s such a good speaker, that I actually went to see him twice, day after day. Definitely a first for me! I’m the last person into hugging trees and composting, but his talks make you want to drop everything and join him in saving the world.
• Speaking of Israel, I’ll be there over winter break, attending (or rather, crashing…) HBS Israel Immersion, where we’re going to meet a host of pretty amazing people from the Israeli high-tech / VC industry. Also, if you’re in Israel and interested in HBS / MBA abroad, you can meet me at the MBA Forum on December 30 in Tel Aviv.
• Helped organizing a panel in the HBS Marketing Conference, about social media and consumer generated content. Check out the list of awesome panelists we had here. In the words of Borat, “Great Success!”. The highlight however was stuffing 250 goodie bags for the conference (yes).
• The conference itself was very interesting – both keynote speakers were excellent, but the CMO of Frito Lay, Jaya Kumar, blew me away with examples of some of the most cutting-edge marketing techniques Pepsi employs (not the exact description, but something like a “fake” supermarket they use to measure heat waves produced by your body to analyze how long you stand in front of the Doritos isle, or something to this extent, and monitoring the widening of your pupils when you watch commercials to determine if they’re effective).
• Speaking of Doritos and consumer generated content, we were shown a few movies created by consumers for a contest Doritos had last year. They were hilarious! Check out this one, one of the finalists: Doritos Checkout Girl
  
• I’m writing this at Peet’s Coffee in Harvard square, and not that I’m eavesdropping or anything, but I just overheard this – “I love organic things”. Only in Cambridge. (And Seattle, probably)
• Oh yeah, today we got the first snow of the season! It didn’t stay but was beautiful when it snowed. Pretty late compared to last year, but I’m not complaining! Much more to come I’m sure.
• :)

Related posts:

1. New Year, New Term and No Snow
2. brrrr
3. Photopost

Recruiting

HBS

Student Body

Gotta love it!
Cheers from rapidly-freezing Boston.

Related posts:

1. Photopost
2. Hell Yeah
3. Cyberposium 13, (a bit about) Recruiting and some culture!