A Man's Search For Meaning (& a Job)

Pursuit of Happiness - The Marital One

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:05:00 +0000

This week's TIME magazine carries the cover story "Unfaithfuly Yours" and discusses the problems with the american marriage the reason why we have so many Edwardses and Sanfords among us, and the institution of marriage appears ever so flimsy. As a still unattached single guy I too took time to ponder on this important issue, and I'm sure many if you in mid-age, planning to pursue your MBA at this point in life, would be as interested as well.

As an important tidbit the article mentions that "Americans tend to highest number of partners in their lives, more than anyone else in the world"

I would say this can be equally attributed to the American way of life or the "Pursuit of Happiness" as Thomas Jefferson put it in the fundamental rights section to begin with. This is this pursuit of happiness at all costs that had allowed the financial bigwigs to steam roll the financial system to satisfy their ends and benefits, it is what had tempted people to borrow and live beyond their financial means, and it is what indirectly responsible for most of the mess we see nowadays around us, even in the institution of marriage.

Most of the people who end up say the marriage vows here in US out of love. We are told that love is blind -- blind to reality that is -- and hence the people who are riding high on emotions after tying the knot, when they step into the reality are not ready to step up to the demands of marriage. Add to it when they have kids, and have to worry about everyday demands and financial stability, the marital life instead becomes a chore and romance is the one that sours and gets kicked out first. The couple don't take time to discuss and talk about issues, and instead turn outside for their "Pursuit of Happiness". That is the reason we see so many failed marriages around us, and the children of no fault of theirs are the ones who are to suffer the most. As the late writer Leonard Michaels once, chillingly, observed in his journal: "Adultery is not about sex or romance. Ultimately, it is about how little we mean to one another."

So instead, is the arcane "arranged" marriage system, that is still practiced in some parts of the world, such as in India, any better? It is better in that the relation doesn't start on love, but its start is instead based on trust and commitment, and hence is better grounded in reality. As opposed to love marriage, in the arranged marriage system, there is no common ground to begin with and hence people try to make up by talking and understanding with each other -- in short there is no ground to lose here and everything is to gain. As people, from the start, take time to talk, understand and ready to walk halfway if needed they are better positioned to weather out any of the storms.

I'm not suggesting to take a big cultural leap and choose "arranged" marriages over "love", but instead we can analyze and incorporate the advantages which tend to make most of those "arranged" marriages tick. Showing commitment in a relationship, make the genuine effort to make it work, taking time to talk about issues, and importantly be ready to face the reality when you step into marriage and not be blinded by the promises of "happily ever after". In the end, Marriage is what we make out of it, you tend to get what you put into the relationship. There is no secret formula for happiness, and it is up to us to make it work through effort.

So, in retrospect, it would have been better if Jefferson had instead put it as "Pursuit of just happiness by right means and honest effort"

Easy (?) way to finance school debt !

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:21:00 +0000

Go on for some pirate hunting this summer before bschool and get paid for it. Regarding whether it will help you in answering leadership/teamwork questions in your future job interviews.....you decide.

http://www.newmajority.com/ShowScroll.aspx?ID=ff46d445-bf1d-4bc2-95cb-9b910e70f40b

Updates & Gandhi-ism

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:38:00 +0000

In the past week I got busy with work and with all other things to be taken care of before I leave to India. I also received my 13-inch Macbook Pro early last week and I will truly say that I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience. I'm glad I made the bold decision to buy a MacBook Pro instead of the standard Windows laptop. I'm currently installing software packages, accustoming myself to the new OS and commands, and trying to slowly learn the ropes. I'm sure I would be in a better "productive" position when I start school in August. I welcome any suggestions on software packages for Mac, or any general advice that some of you experienced folks would recommend for novices like me.

At last I managed to book my flight tickets to India and back to USA. I booked the tickets in Qatar airlines (which I was pleased to learn is one of the few 5-star airlines in the world), and after I had booked the tickets I found that within the next 6 hours the ticket prices went up by $400. I was fortunate that I was able to book the tickets at a much lower price. A word of caution to you guys booking tickets online, to not blindly trust Orbitz. I found the price difference between booking tickets through Orbitz and directly at Qatar airlines' website was $300. So always make sure to verify the prices at the airlines' website before you book tickets through Orbitz (or any similar travel booking portal).

I promise to write a more comprehensive post regarding the going-ons in my life in the next few days. In the mean time, I would like to leave you guys with these youtube videos of speech given by Mr. Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. I've never heard heard him speak before, and I would have to say that I was greatly engrossed and bedazzled by the content of his speech. He clearly explains how Gandhi-ism and the principle of NonViolence is increasingly more relevant in our present materialistic society than it was in the early 20th century India. If you could spare 30 mins of your time, I seriously recommend you to watch this complete 7 part video series. I'm sure in the end you will agree that it was a 30 mins well worth spent.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EF5E35C14B146770

UPDATE:

I'm also planning to sell the 8GB iPod Touch I received with my MacBook Pro this month, at a much reduced price. As I'm planning on buying an iPhone for school, I don't think I would have the need for a separate iPod Touch. So if any of you are interested in buying it from me, drop me a comment.

Quick Updates

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:47:00 +0000

1) Evanston Housing:
- After being in McManus housing waitlist for long, I was informed yesterday that I was being offered a spot in McManus. So for the time-being, the huge burden of housing is off my back for now, and I can plan the dates and book tickets for my return to Evanston from India.

2) Kellogg Medical Forms:
- Went to my physician here in US. Informed him that I don't have any records from childhood for the immunizations required for Kellogg. I was given the Tetanus shot (the 2nd shot is due in 28 days, and the 3rd in 6 months). For MMR, as my Dad confirmed that I was definitely given the shot in my childhood, I decided to go for the blood test. For TB, did the PPD skin test. All results would be due this week. While at my physician's place, I found it unusual that he insisted on doing a thorough physicial, including checking height/weight etc. He even insisted that I be checked for hernia and testicular cancer. My plea that those tests were not needed for the University Medical forms were ignored, and instead I was told that it is necessary to perform a complete physical checkup (for medical-insurance reasons), and a person of my age should definitely have these periodic checkups. So I eventually gave in and went for those tests. In the end, I was that glad all those results came negative :)

3) Laptop for School:
- I was originally planning to buy the IBM Thinkpad laptop through the Kellogg's KLP program. Though I liked the idea of owning a MacBook, the huge price tag of nearly $2,000 was big NO-NO for me, especially with the certainity of huge student debt looming in the horizon. But after Apple slashed its MacBook line's price in the past week, I'm currently sold to the idea of buying a 13-inch MacBook Pro (which starts at $1,199). After applying education/student discount, it becomes an even greater deal ($1,099), and even a free 8GB iPod Touch would be included in the package. So now I'm all set to take the plunge :)

UPDATE:
I've ordered the 13'' Macbook Pro and it should be arriving anytime early next week. Excited.

Debunking Third World Myths

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:36:00 +0000

Though I'm a hopeless Youtube addict, I resolved myself to refrain from posting any youtube videos in this blog. But I can't help but share this one.

This is an impressive talk by Hans Rosling at TED, which debunks many of the myths that still persists about Third World countries -- btw, Why are they somewhat derisively called "Third World", connoting their existence doesn't matter much to the rest of the world? Similarly, do we also have "Second World" countries? -- and shows clearly how majority of the world is becoming flat, but not as how Thomas Friedman had imagined.

It also shows how to make statistics more interesting and accessible, so that it can be easily shared with the wider public.

UPDATE:
A search on wikipedia shows that there are indeed "Second World" countries. But I still don't buy this classification of categorizing people/countries.

Quick Updates

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:26:00 +0000

1) Expect to hear some news next week regarding Evanston housing and have to plan accordingly. Depending on that I need to set my arrival date back from India. If I get into an unfurnished studio/apt, then I need to be here atleast a few days before the start of KWEST, so that I can get the things done. I would like to request and enlist other Kellogg bloggers' help to move things around...feel free to volunteer ;)

2) I'm still struggling between either going for blood test for MMR, or going for new shots. Currently, I'm in favor of the latter approach, as if the blood tests were negative for immunity (which I guess would be the case), then I need to go for shots anyway. So why not go for the shots right away?

3) Haven't heard about my KWEST trip allocation yet. Guess would be hearing about it in the next few weeks. Hope atleast this would go my way -- unlike my McManus oncampus housing application.

4) Saw the Disney/Pixar movie "Up" last week on the release date. Liked it. I would not say that it is the best animation movie I've ever seen -- that would be "Shrek", "Shrek 2", "Toy Story 2", "The Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo" -- but it still was way better than other crap movies that get rolled out nowadays. Highly recommend it for good quality summer fun.

5) The go-live date for the project/application I've been working on for the past 2 years was in the last week. So I spent most of my time last week working crazy hours nailing things down, ironing out the chinks, and getting issues resolved. Even the next week would be relatively busy. Expect to blog more regularly after that.

6) Spent sometime compiling the list of things to-do before Kellogg. The list only kept growing longer and longer :) If you, like me, spend most of your time on computer, and would like to prepare to-do lists and set timely reminders, I recommend NoteZilla. Try it out. I do hope you would "know" what to "do" when the free trial runs out ;)

Weekly Update

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:33:00 +0000

1) Yesterday I received my I-20 from Kellogg. The turnaround time was around 4 to 5 days. Kudos to the Kellogg International office for getting it done sooner. Now that I've my I-20, I need to start the F1 visa processing steps such as paying the SEVIS and visa fee, filling up visa forms, setting up visa appointments, booking flights to/from India, in short, a whole boat load of things to take care of. I will refer back to maverick's post I mentioned before for guidance on the F1 visa process.
I've a doubt. maverick's post mentions "Address Proof for the state of residence – this could be your last 6 months salary slips or a confirmation of your address on your company’s letterhead". As I'm currently in USA for the past 3 years, I don't have a valid residence address (for last 6 months) in India. But as I'm planning to take the visa interiew in India, which address should I be providing? Do any of you guys have any thoughts on this?

2) I heard from Kellogg this week that I was not being offered an on-campus housing accomodation at McManus (supply-demand explaination was given). In short, I was dinged (again?), or in this case, "waitlisted". I wonder who among the other Kellogg bloggers were fortunate enough to secure on-campus housing. So right now my solitary housing plan has fallen through, and upon hearing the news I was sort-of completely pissed off for a day. Now I need to decide soon and earnestly start looking for off-campus accomodations. It is gonna be a bit tough to couple this housing search along with my F1 visa process. I'm especially interested in a furnished (?) single studio (or even 1 bedroom), near the McManus area (closer to Barnes & Noble and Whole Foods). So if any of the current 1st or 2nd year students, or even incoming students, are reading this blog (which I highly doubt), please do shoot out any suggestions that you might have regarding housing.

3) Has any of the incoming students started with compiling the medical immunizations records that are required for matriculation. I'm not sure whether I (or even my parents) have all my immunization records from childhood. Also, as I've already stayed in USA for the past 3 years, doesn't that mean I'm not a "threat" to other people anymore? :) What are you guys planning on doing? I'm now leaning towards D.G's advice, and take all the MMR, tetanus shots again, so that I need not spend time looking for them now.

I've been contemplating on a few blog posts, along with the one I previously promised about "essay advice". With luck, I will try to get to those sometime this weekend.

Can we KIVA ???

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:06:00 +0000

As many of you might have already known, KIVA is a micro-lending organization, co-founded by Jessica Jackley (a Stanford GSB alum), which connects lenders (like us) with Entrepreneurs mainly in the developing or third-world countries.

By making loan contributions as little as $25, we can help fund someone's business and let them stand firmly on their feet, earn respect and support their families. As they start making money in their business venture, our loan amount eventually gets paid back to us.

In short, as the basic premise of "Hinduism" and even as often mentioned in the show "My Name Is Earl", Karma is a strong concept: You only reap what you sow. And for those budding entrepreneurs amongst us who would be vying for future VC money, help out and get helped.

Here is also a short amusing video of how the money loaned to a family of rice farmers in Cambodia gets spent/invested, and the loan is paid back. And everyone lives happily ever-after, ofcourse :)

P.S
I've to admit that though i learnt about Kiva long before, I never got myself to register in the site and lend money. I've done that today. Hope some of you will too.

KWEST final list

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Done with my KWEST trip bookings. I started exactly at 11.00 AM EDT, and it took me nearly 10 mins to complete the forms and submit. I could only hope that the trips i really wanted to go didn't get filled out earlier. Anyway here is how my final list stands:

1: Eco-seekas in Costa Ricas! (Costa Rica)
2: Do You Belize In Magic? (Belize)
3: I'M NOT A PLAYA I JUST KWEST A LOT!! (Playa Del Carmen)
4: Locked and Loaded (Panama)
5: Ragers of the Lost Ark (Amsterdam & Egypt)
6: Hike the NorWay! (Norway)
7: Double Dutch Antillies (Curaco/Bonaire)
8: Bahamaniacs! (Bahamas)
9: We're Going Greeking! (Greece)
10: It's Cold as Ice! (Iceland)

I hope i do get into any of the top 3. As I had expected, the choice of hiking/trekking in the central american rainforests eventually got the better of lazing/boozing around in the sunny caribbean beaches. I was even interested in Norway; 6 or 7 days of trekking through the Nordic mountains, lakes & fjords sounds like great fun to me. I'm sure the Mystery, Moracco and Egypt trips would have been the ones that had gotten filled out first.

It's too bad that we would come to know about our trip allocations only almost a month later :( I hoped to get my KWEST visa & shopping (if any that is needed for the trip) done while I'm still here in US before i head to India mid-July for my F1 visa.

I should be out to hit the malls sometime today to have some of the memorial-day shopping done. Ciao.

Random Thoughtlets/Updates

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:03:00 +0000

1) Atlast last week i managed to send in my I-20 application form along with financial support documents to Kellogg. Hope to hear back soon early next week, and once i get my I20, I would concentrate on applying for my F1 visa. Still my original plan holds: I plan to leave US to India sometime mid-July, get my F1 visa done, and be back at Kellogg around Aug 20th in time for the KWEST trip.

2) Speaking of KWEST trip, I'm still not even close to finalizing my Top 10 destination choices. The deadline looms large: It is due at 10 AM CST tomorrow. I'm still struggling with the very broad choices (that I mentioned in my one of my previous posts) of Central America (Costa Rica, Belize, Panama, Playa Del Carmen) or the Carribean (Curaco/Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas). I grew up in a small town in India, and hence i'm not much of a big-city (or skyscrapers) person. I enjoy much more being out in the nature. So the idea of hiking through the rain-forests and waterfalls in Central America, or snorkeling in the clear turquoise/emerald waters of the Caribbean and lying on the powdery white beach sand drinking cocktails are of almost equal interest to me. And as i also do like some partying, I would also like to spend considerable time on that during my KWEST trip. I know, now I do have to make some trade-offs. I could only hope to have the Top 10 choices done sometime today evening. Any suggestions guys?

3) I also learnt that the decision on on-campus housing (McManus) allocations would be done by the administrative committe soon, and I hope to hear some good news. If not, I'm totally screwed and would have to couple my apartment search along with my F1 visa process. But if i do get my desired on-campus housing, I assure that i would buy atleast some of you guys beer (after getting cash from you, ofcourse).

4) Some of you guys would be surprised to learn how writing good MBA application essays can inturn help you achieve good personal hygiene. Surprised, Intrigued, or atleast, Disgusted (I doubt it)? Watch out this space sometime later this week as i blog (or BS) about few pointers on writing impressive (or atleast, creative) admission essays.

5) On a much lighter (or is it "most lightest" in this case?) note...all the famous bloggers (or atleast, book authors like Dan Brown etc, for that matter) are supposed to have a wide fanatical female following, an aspect which this blog very sorely lacks and desparately needs. Any suggestions on how to lure more members of the fairer sex to this blog? Maybe i should start to blog about Danielle Steele, Oprah, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, House, Ashton Kutcher, Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, The Real HouseWives of XYZ? God (or Darwin...depending on your belief system) help this blog if i decide to do any of that :)

Livin with stripes (aka) It's not a "plain" world afterall

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:42:00 +0000

Yesterday evening I was reading a book at Barnes & Noble (and doing my regular people-watching), and suddenly this thought came to my mind: "Why does almost all t-shirts (except maybe those worn by sports teams in soccer game) tend to have horizontal stripes (not vertical), and all formal shirts tend to have vertical stripes (not horizontal)".

Any takers? thoughts?

A random business idea (not that i plan to become an entrepreneur immediately after bschool) would be to come up with "adjustable" clothes made of "adjustable or flexible" materials/fabric...so that clothes would be easily made to perfectly fit all body types & sizes (hope science comes up with such "material" advancements in future) or have programmable colors (like that was shown in WALL-E) or design or stripes (horizontal or vertical or diagonal...your choice) :)

Suddenly as the bschool enrollment approaches in the horizon, I see myself questioning things more and more (challenging the status-quo and becoming more "business"-like?). I can only hope that i would remain sane enough when i start school :)

Deal or No Deal

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:11:00 +0000

I'm unconvinced with the answer to this famous (?) probability puzzle. Maybe some of you can help:

You are in a game show. You are asked to select from 3 closed boxes (let us say A, B and C). One of them has 1 million dollars, the other 2 are empty. You choose box A. Then the game show host opens the box C, and it turns out to be empty. You are now given a choice to reconsider your decision. To maximize your winning chance, should you stay with your original decision (box A), or choose the other one (box B)?

Please provide your approach/thought process along with the solution. It would be great if you attempt this problem yourself, and not look it up in Google. And if you had come across this puzzle before and know the answer, please refrain from answering.

Consulting Rankings 2008 (Consulting Magazine)

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:33:00 +0000

For those of you interested in a career in Consulting post-MBA, Consulting Magazine has published the "Best Firms To Work For" Rankings for 2008. Note that in 2008, curiously, McKinsey decided not to participate in these rankings. Surprisingly, atleast for me, there are many firms that seem quite new (not available in the past Vault rankings) in the Top 10. It is to be noted that, Bain has been awarded the #1 rank for the past 6 consecutive years. The firm must be doing something exceptionally right to continually deserve this honour.

The Best Firms list is as follows:

1. Bain & Company
2. The Boston Consulting Group
3. North Highland
4. Point B
5. Booz & Company
6. Alvares & Marsal
7. Milliman
8. A.T. Kearney
9. Monitor Group
10. Kurt Salmon Associates

In the sub-categories, BCG tops the list for "Compensation & Benefits", whereas Bain tops the list for "Career Development", "Work/Life Balance", "Culture" and "The Job".

P.S:
Do you know that Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, was a former CEO of Bain and Company and also a co-founder of Bain Capital ??? Make up your our decision on whether this specific piece of information reflects positively or negatively on the firm :)

Random Thoughtlets

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:37:00 +0000

1) TIME magazine has released the list of TIME 100 people of 2009. I find that some of them to be really exceptional people and some are definitely not (in my opinion anyway) -- Brad Pitt, Zac Effron, MIA, Rush Limbaugh (and, to a certain extent, Michelle Obama) ? You must definitely be kidding !

I definitely agree with the choices of Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini, Tina Fey, Shai Agassi, The Twitter Guys, T. Boone Pickens etc.

It is exciting that one of the winners is working on a cheap technology to separate hydrogen from water, and thus make hydrogen fuel a reality of future; some are working on extracting DNA from the partially preserved hair locks and body parts obtained from long extinct animal species (woolly mammoth etc), which might help make the yesteryear's fiction "Jurassic Park" a definite possibility; and one of them is fervently working on creating a vaccine to fight HIV/AIDS malaise.

Anyway here is the list. Make your own judgement call.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1894410,00.html

2) The results for the 13th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners are in.

http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=13

I'm pleased that TED has deservedly won the award for "Best Use of Video or Moving Image" category, and The Atlantic has won in the "Magazine" category.

Do take your time to go through the list. Who knows, you might even discover some hidden gems in the categories of your choice/interest.

F1 Visa - Instructions/Checklist

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:14:00 +0000

One of our fellow MBA bloggers, Maverick, has posted a great step-by-step instruction sheet of how to go about the F1 visa process. For those of you who had missed that post, i'm providing the link below.

http://mbastory.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/gateway-to-your-visa-appointment/

I will also share my side of the story as i go through the process. Currently i'm in the process of getting my I20 done (I know I'm lazy).

Do feel free to drop a line in the comment section about which stage you are currently in the process.

What's the good (beautiful) word?

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:18:00 +0000

The following link provides the list, compiled by a much respectable source (the guy who for many years was coining "word of the day" for dictionary.com), of the 100 most beautiful words in the English language.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/100_most_beautiful_words.html

Don't be alarmed when you come across any of these words in this blog as i would try to work them in in the coming weeks -- it does mean quite a bit of work on my part to first understand what almost half of the words on this list mean; it has been quite a while (6 years) since i prepared for my GRE verbal test, understanding and memorizing difficult English words from word-lists.

"Bungalow", "Ratatouille"? You must be kidding! And where is my personal favorite "Thoughtlet" ??? :)

Do you guys have any of your favorite ones in this list? What is your top 10 favorite words in English? Also do feel free to comment about any of similar "beautiful" words in your native (non-English) language. Right now the only words i know in other languages are almost all curse words, so would be mightily grateful to know some "civil" ones :)

Also, if you have time, ponder on this: "Is the word "beautiful", beautiful? ummm...I don't see it on the above list.

Science Alert !!!

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Though this is not MBA related in any way, i thought i should share this one with the blogging world.

Was digging through the stories in reddit, and found this one in the science section. The story is about how some scientists have uncovered the secret for protection against HIV. With this we are much closer to developing a vaccine for HIV. This really seems to be an exciting development. BioTech or Genetics is definitely the field for the future, with so many interesting possibilities (using the human genome map and programmed retro-viruses for targeting & altering the genes as needed). If there were no other (loan) obligations, I would definitely consider a post-MBA career in biotech.

KWEST 2009 Website is Live

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:36:00 +0000

This is to inform all you Kellogg folks that KWEST 2009 website is online now. Right now you have the option to read through all the available trips, but the actual registration for the trips would begin only on May 20th 10 AM CST. It is highly recommended that we be present at that time, as all trip allocations are done on a first-come first-serve basis, and there are only 20 spots (+5 2nd years) available for each trip. To register, one needs to provide a list of the top 10 trips of their choice. It is also required to provide passport, health-insurance and a $500 credit card deposit at the time of registration, so do keep this information handy and available.

At the moment I'm leaning towards the trips to either Central America (Playa Del Carmen, Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras) or Caribbean (Curaco/Bonaire). Not sure which way i would eventually go. I'm happy (???) that they are not providing the Hawaii option this time around, as that would have made my choice even (linearly) harder :)

https://kellogg-kwest.ecampusgroups.com

Do feel free to drop a line about the trips i've mentioned above, or about the trips you are interested in.

Random Thoughtlets

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:23:00 +0000

Now is the time for some random thoughtlets for the week...yup..."thoughtlet" is a new word coined by me, and I hereby lay claim for this word. I will let you all know the implications of my above mentioned claim in a shortwhile.

Thoughtlet: (pronounced "thoughtlet"...how else do you suppose???) is defined as a easily digestable bite size chunk of data/thought. The main distinction between a thoughtlet and the regular more widely available and used thought is that, a thoughtlet is what we would end up with when we strip off all inconsequential self-indulgent meanderings or tangential overtones from a thought. Or to put it simply, a thoughtlet is what transpires when a blog author who is inherently too lazy to indulge in anything inconsequential...so is the case with this very one.
Second distinction, whereas a thought usually demands a specfic blog post for itself, multiple thoughlets can be combined in a single blog post.
Another important difference is whereas the word thought can be used freely, the word thoughtlet has unfortunately been patented -- or is claimed to be patented -- by The.Grey.One and can only be used after paying a hefty royalty for its usage to the patent owner :) (Let me see whether i'm able to pay off atleast a portion of my MBA tution loans with the royalty that i would collect)

1) My weekend started on a sad note when i learnt that my fellow MBA blogger MaybeMBA has decided to bid adieu to the blogging world. Hers was a honest and soulful voice, amidst all the other banal mindless phony chatter and pretentiousness of the business/MBA world, and it will sorely and surely be missed by all of us.

I'm averse to bidding her farewell at this point, as there is some vestige of hope in some remote corner of my mind that she would be back to blogging in no time. But if this is really her final post, then i sincerely wish her all the very best in life, and i'm sure knowing the kind of person she is, she would definitely scale great heights in whatever endeavour she undertakes. I wish an abundance of health and happiness to her family, to baby Y and baby #2. Do keep us posted dear friend.

On a similar note, I'm happy that i find some similar genuine people (bloggers) at Kellogg, and I too would try to uphold the tradition and portray the MBA/business world as honestly as i can. MaybeMBA has set very high standards for us, and i hope some of us bloggers would be upto it.

2) I'm currently reading the book "Plato and a Platypus walk into a Bar". It is a great refreshing read, and explains the different aspects of Philosophy in terms of common everyday jokes. When i started with the book "Sophie's World" a few years back, i stopped in the middle as i could not keep up with the wide range of terms and concepts that were thrown at me. So i find this book to be easy on the mind and a good read.

The following is a link where the Authors of the book "Plato and a Platypus" giving a talk at the Google campus (I'm impressed by the effort put up by Google by bringing in all these amazing authors to talk...For me this must be one of the great perks of working at Google)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2YdMbH_4jo

3) Howard Bloom, author of "The Lucifer Principle", a man who is hailed, rightly or wrongly, by others as the next great genius after Einstein provides his take on Economic boom & bust cycles, and what a country should do to come out of it on the top. It is amusing to learn how in the 16th century in Europe there was a huge "Tulip Bulb" bubble -- yes, you read it right, it is infact "TULIP BULBS" -- as we now had our recent "Real Estate" bubble.

He emphasises that is important that a country should invest heavily in the next latest technology in an economic downturn, and it is especially ironic to see that government scaring away some of the top talent in the world in the name of "Protectionism". USA has always been the land of opportunity, and it has to remain so if it is to stay on top of the ladder for long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyPdW6lNt_8

For those of you interested, I'm also providing a link for a video in which Howard Bloom -- do you know that he is also in Facebook? -- discusses the concept behind his book "The Lucifer Principle"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ1XNLMduKs

4) The following story/research is a warning to all of us Facebook fans. It is no surprise that the latest technologies, such as Facebook, Twitter (You know what? I found "Demi Moore" in Twitter...but honestly, I could very well do without knowing what she thinks every waking moment of her life) etc, are helping us keep connected and stay on top of the news and happenings, but unfortunately they also rob from us the valuable time which should have been spend doing the actual productive work. The point being "Anything, only if done in moderation is good".

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/social_network/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216500494

P.S: What is the problem with Twitter? There is a hell a lot of people requesting to follow me everyday. I find it strange and I'm wary of stalkers. Is there any "Do not Follow" list for Twitter where i could register? ;)

5) Fortune magazine has published its annual list of top 100 companies for 2009 -- maybe this is old news ???

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/full_list/

It is suprising to find that among the Big 3 consulting firms, BCG is on the top of the list at #3, infact it had even managed to triumph Google which was ranked #1 last year. The other 2 of the Big 3 firms, McKinsey & Bain are no where on the list, whereas Deloitte, Accenture, KPMG, etc are present. I found it especially surprising because Vault has ranked McKinsey as #1 in terms of prestige, and Bain as #1 for work-life balance. Maybe i'm too naive that i'm missing on some other important criteria here.

It is also interesting to note that, in the Big Pays list, it is the law firms which tops everyone else. Maybe i should have tried becoming a liar..err..lawyer.

6) On the MBA side, I would be flying to Chicago this weekend to attend the DAK II function at Kellogg. I received a mail last weekend from the DAK II organizers that I belong to the PIGGY BANKS section -- nice, more and more piggy banks (savings) are the need of the hour. I'm happy that we are supposed to have a nice weather this weekend at Evanston (I pray that it doesn't rain!). As I'm yet to acquire the powers of foresight, I would post the details about the event after DAK II :)

I find it amusing that almost all of the current Kellogg Class of 2011 bloggers are R1 admits (which clearly illustrates that they are more organized than i am), and it appears that i am the only blogger who was admitted in R2 (If by mistake i've missed someone out...please let me know)

Banking Crisis - Indian Version

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Just came across this wonderful NY Times article detailing how Reserve Bank of India (RBI), equivalent to the FED in USA, averted the banking crisis in India. Though the article is few months old, it is good to know and appreciate the wisdom of one man, Mr. Y.V. Reddy, the former governor of RBI, who stood amongst all criticisms and held on steadfastly to his views.

In a sense, it is better for India to be an emerging economy and not a fully developed one, as "innovations" such as CDOs, MBS etc are not immediately available and acted up on. Also, it can follow the wait-and-watch approach on how these "innovations" play out in the long term before adopting them.

But don't make the mistake of assuming that I'm pointing at the Wall St bankers for this financial mess (yes, they too, like many others, made their share of mistakes, but they are not the main culprits). In my view, instead the US Government, Congress and Fed should shoulder the major portion of the blame. I will write a detailed post on that later. But for now i will share some articles on the same subject.

It is indisputable that the current recession is tough on all of us and in fact heart-breaking for those who lost their jobs, but i could think of some the benefits, if any, that would eventually come out of it: for one, most of us now know in some detail about CDO, CDS etc and various other esoteric instruments and machinations used by the financial industry; people from now on would start to saving more; and it further validates the age old wisdom of living within one's means.

Stick(k) to It

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:40:00 +0000

For the commitment-o-phobics among us -- well, i'm not referring to relationship commitments exactly -- two economists at Yale university have come up with an ingenious idea to simplify our ever complicated lives. In the website stickk.com, you can list your goal/commitment (you can choose it from pre-existing list or create custom goal), list your (monetary) incentives, and also assign a refree who will look to it that you stick to your goals.
For eg, your goal can be to lose weight (or gain weight if you are anorexic unlike most of us), assign a sum/bet that you would like to place as incentive (the money which you would forego if you don't reach your goals at a set deadline), assign a referee (a friend or family member maybe) who would be able to verify unbiasedly whether you achieved your set goals.
If you don't reach your goals, then the money would be automatically donated to a charity (you provide your credit card and beneficiary details while formulating your goals). For those of us who are singlemindedly serious about reaching goals, a possibility to think of is to assign as beneficiary a person or the football/baseball/basketball team we absolutely hate (sending money to "Joe - The Plumber" anyone?) -- all the more reason for us to stick to our goals.
Now do feel free to drop a line in the comment section on what you plan on achieving. Happy goal setting !!!

Kellogg Housing

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:04:00 +0000

For those of you interested in availing the on-campus housing (McManus Living/Learning Center) provided by Kellogg, the housing application is available online from April 1st. Here is the link for the McManus housing facilities.

Singles can choose between a Studio, Twin Studio and Two Bedroom apartments, but the final allocations would be done after May 1st through a lottery system. I've currently opted for a Studio apartment (liked the A2 floor plan better). I will also have a chance to take a good look at the McManus housing during my DAK II trip to Kellogg on April 24th-26th. Will keep you folks updated about my findings.

Rise of the Nine-O-Mom

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:04:00 +0000

Yesterday when i was driving to work, I was listening to my regular 92.3 FM station. They were running an interview segment about a women in North East who is going to inseminate herself with 12 embryos in the hope of besting the current Octo-Mom's record (which was a travesty itself). Her husband was running a fertility clinic and they together came up with this brilliant idea which would put both of them and their clinic in spotlight and that would inturn translate into better marketing and business.

There was a huge public outrage with people calling in from all over to voice their views (and disgust), and the discussion was getting passionate. We also had a direct live interview with the prospective Nine-O-Mom aired. She mentioned that how she always wanted to be on spotlight, and got sentimental and broke up crying when she mentioned that the record would get her a chance to meet "Oprah!". She remarked that she is planning on selling the kids to "prospective" buyers, whom she mentioned were among the plenty visiting her clinic, and all she wants is to be holder of the record. She concluded the interview with these golden phrases: "You people need not understand me" and "I can, and I will". The listeners got so fed up that they discussed about organizing a protest infront of the clinic.

The conversation got so serious that i was not sure whether to get off my car to work and was listening to it in my office parking lot. When I reached work, I mentioned this to my buddy. He inturn told me that he was so disgusted with the mere thought of selling kids like kittens in a litter that he had turned off the station in the middle. We then let it simmer at that and got back to work.

The Aftermath:

Today, while driving to work I was listening to the same station. The show hosts mentioned how they successfully managed to fool everyone yesterday with their "Nine-O-Mom" prank. Well, What a relief !
I have to admit that i fell for it, and i had not been "April" fooled for years. Infact, I readily bought the story as i very much know the existence of mindnumbing stupid-ass crappy reality shows such as "The Bachelor", "Rock of Love", "Shot of Love", "I Love New York", "America's Next Top Model", "Real Housewives of XYZ" etc etc that are being paraded everyday in each of the television channels as popular choice. I've seen people in those shows behaving beyond reason (and control), and i sincerely wish that i don't come across them (and the viewers who eagerly lap up those shows) in real life, else i might give them a piece of my mind. It is exactly one of the reasons i don't watch TV anymore (except for the movies shown in TCM, and some late night interview/comedy shows)

F1 Visa Process

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:11:00 +0000

Wanted to add more info & perspective to help people who are thinking about doing the visa COS process (from H1B to F1) in USA.

It is known that the COS process usually takes 3 to 6 months, but we can start studying at school once we have received our COS application receipt from USCIS. But if our application gets rejected for some reason then we can't continue in school any further and have to go back to our home country.

When i spoke with the administrative people at the International Office at Kellogg, they recommended that we get our F1 from our home country, and avoid going through the COS route if possible. They mentioned that going through the COS route will constrain us from travelling outside USA and re-entering (for pre-MBA trips such as KWEST trip at Kellogg or RandomWalk at Chicago etc, or for student exchange/study abroad). Considering that i'm planning on going on KWEST trips, this restriction means that i can only travel inside USA. Also, if i travel abroad, say if i visit my home country a few months later, i have to get my F1 visa stamped by appearing for an interview at the US consulate, and i'm allowed to enter USA only after obtaining the required F1 stamping. So, considering these implications i'm now having second thoughts about opting for the COS option.

But i'm equally scared of the other option of getting F1 visa processing done in my home country. I hear horror stories in students visa forums of people having their visas delayed almost indefinitely due to administrative processing. In some cases, the delay was even 4 months. Having gone through similar ordeal last year when i was in India -- I had to get my H1B restamped and had to wait for 3 weeks due to administrative processing to get my new H1B visa -- I'm averse to going through the same trouble again. But if i have no other option but to go through this route, then i have to make sure that i allocate adequate time for this process and be prepared for the worst case scenario, which almost always manages to happen in my case :). This would mean that i appear for my F1 visa Interview atleast around mid-July, and have to relinquish my current job (and paycheck) for a month or two (July - August).

Is anyone else here in USA planning on getting their F1 visa done from their home country (India)? What is the timeframe you are looking at? Any help or advice on the same is welcomed.

Kellogg Updates

noreply@blogger.com (The.Grey.One) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:39:00 +0000

Sent the tuition deposit along with official transcripts to Kellogg.

Filed Tax returns for 2008. Was pissed off when i found that i had to pay IRS around 1K in taxes. Obama has promised tax cuts for 95% of people, but ironically, 2008 was the 1st time in the last 3 years I owed IRS any money. I'm much used to getting refunds from IRS each year. Also, I was told by my tax consultant that most of the people this year (as they were laid off from work and were receiving unemployment checks from government) ended up paying taxes to IRS. If that is the case, if most people are paying pending taxes to IRS, then they would instead cut down on any future spending (atleast that is what i plan to do), and this would depress this economy even further. It would be better if Obama could make his proposed tax cuts be applicable for the last finanicial year, put more money in people's pockets, and thus increase spending.

Right now i'm planning on applying for the on-campus housing (McManus) provided by Kellogg. It is much closer to the school -- i have to walk everyday to "The Jake" -- has the most students and families in the building, and excellent facilities (gym, 24 hr computer lab/office center, ping pong tables, etc). Granted it is a little far off from the downtown bars, but i'm not the type who will hit the bars almost everyday. So this should do. (Just found out that there is a Barnes & Noble across the street from McManus. Life can't get any better)

I'm thinking about doing the Change of Status (COS) from H1B to F1 while in USA, not go to my home country for my F1 visa stamping, and thus i could stay at my current job till august (and save some more for school). Is anyone else considering the same? Preliminary reading shows me that the COS if done from USA usually takes around 3 to 6 months. But the person can enroll at school and start studying when the receipt for COS application is received from USCIS, and not wait till the actual conversion to F1 is done. Anyone experienced in such procedure, please lend me your advice on how to go about it.

Also, here is a link to the forum discussing most of the F1 visa questions. Hope some of you might find it useful.

http://murthyforum.atinfopop.com/4/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=1024039761&f=5584035071