So Alicia and I had a great holiday weekend in Boston. We had four whole days together - the first time in 6 months! We had a great time spending our time together and having our first Christmas alone. Though we missed our families, we had a very merry Christmas.
On Saturday, Alicia and I went to see the Christmas Revels at the Sanders Theatre on Harvard's Campus. A great Christmas show that celebrated the winter solstice through folk stories and songs from the Baltic region. A very memorable time for both of us and something that we will definitely do next year as well.
Christmas Eve we took a long walk around Boston through Boston Common and down Newbury St. The city was pretty deserted, but we didn't mind. There was a church playing Christmas carols on their bells that created a very pleasant holiday experience.
Hope that you all had wonderful holidays and have a Happy New Year!
More later....
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Almost Done and Plant Trek Prep!
So I am almost finished with my Fall semester...just one more exam - Accounting - on Wednesday and I am officially on Winter Vacation. Whew! At that point, I will have finished half of my academic work at MIT. Hard to believe, but true. I've already bid on my Spring courses and will find out next Wednesday what classes I'll be able to take. I will admit to any potential students it is REALLY hard to narrow down the classes that you will want to take while here. It is amazing how every class you hear about is one that you add to your list for consideration. I think that I have a pretty good line up for classes but will fill you in next week on that information.
As far as Plant Tour goes, here is all the information about it that I know. Plant Tour is an LFM-defining event. The entire class (all 47 of us) head out for two weeks during the month of January to travel across the country visiting our partner companies manufacturing facilities.
Our itinerary for the trip is as follows:
Jan 6th - 8th: Austin, TX - Visiting Cisco/Flextronics/Dell
Jan 9th: Reno, NV - Amazon
Jan 10th - 13th: Seattle, WA - Boeing
Jan 14th: Milwaukee, WI - Harley-Davidson
Jan 15th: Chicago, IL - Honeywell
Jan 16th - 19th: Detroit, MI - GM, American Axle, possibly Ford and the North American Auto Show
We are all trying to get ready for our travels home (be they domestic or foreign) for Christmas and then again for our trip. It is a lot of work putting the whole trip together and all the credit goes to my classmates on the Plant Tour Committee. They have done a wonderful job. I'll keep you updated on our trip as best I can. It should be an amazing life experience so I hope that I do it justice.
More later...
As far as Plant Tour goes, here is all the information about it that I know. Plant Tour is an LFM-defining event. The entire class (all 47 of us) head out for two weeks during the month of January to travel across the country visiting our partner companies manufacturing facilities.
Our itinerary for the trip is as follows:
Jan 6th - 8th: Austin, TX - Visiting Cisco/Flextronics/Dell
Jan 9th: Reno, NV - Amazon
Jan 10th - 13th: Seattle, WA - Boeing
Jan 14th: Milwaukee, WI - Harley-Davidson
Jan 15th: Chicago, IL - Honeywell
Jan 16th - 19th: Detroit, MI - GM, American Axle, possibly Ford and the North American Auto Show
We are all trying to get ready for our travels home (be they domestic or foreign) for Christmas and then again for our trip. It is a lot of work putting the whole trip together and all the credit goes to my classmates on the Plant Tour Committee. They have done a wonderful job. I'll keep you updated on our trip as best I can. It should be an amazing life experience so I hope that I do it justice.
More later...
Monday, December 10, 2007
I Forgot! The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Construction Tour
So I totally forgot to post about the tour that the Real Estate Club set up. I am not in the Real Estate Club, but they opened up the tour to non-members as well (which is nice) so I got to join them on a tour of the new Boston Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It is still under construction (opening date is June 20th or so) so we all donned hardhats and got to walk around the construction! I really like seeing how things are put together so this was a great trip for me. We were able to tour the mixed use facility and got to see the hotel floors, the condo floors and the penthouse...a 6,000 sq. ft. unfinished condo that went for $14 million for the raw space. The future owner is supposedly planning to drop another $5 million to finish the condo. Talk about great location though: right next to the Prudential Center, Newbury Street right next door, views of The Charles, Fenway and all of Boston from the floor to ceiling windows - beautiful. When we visited it was getting late so we got to see the sun setting over Boston as we were in the penthouse. Let me just tell you that the future owner will have a lot of great views! Just wanted to drop another line before exam week kicks in!
More later...
More later...
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
FINALS!!!
Well, we're not quite to Finals yet, but we are winding down our semester. We've been busy with final presentations and tying up the loose ends of all those semester projects and papers. Its been quite a stressful couple of weeks, but we are all looking forward to our vacations (though ours is cut short by the Plant Trek in January). We'll see how that goes. Some of my fellow LFM's have been doing a great job setting up our itinerary and creating interesting and exciting, not to mention entertaining, events for us on our two week trip! I'll try and post and upload some photos from our trip so you can get an insider's view. Hope that you are all doing well!
Take care and more later...
Take care and more later...
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Upcoming: Sloan Leaders In Service Trek to New Orleans
I applied and have been accepted to work on a Sloan Leaders in Service Trek (SLST) to New Orleans this February. A group of 20 Sloanies will be partnered with New Orleans' entrepreneurs in order to help in their re-development of the City of New Orleans. We will be collaborating with Idea Village in New Orleans to help out. It should be a great trek and one that will be a great experience for everyone involved. You can read more about Idea Village and some of the other projects that have been completed by other MBA's from around the country at http://www.ideavillage.org/ideacorps/about.php. You should all take a quick second to go to this site and read up (they also have a good video about the economic landscape and potential for development). I'll post again soon once we have been partnered with the local entrepreneur.
More later....
More later....
Monday, November 26, 2007
Your Thanksgiving Adventures?
I forgot to ask you all to send in any issues that you had this weekend while traveling home for the holidays. Not only is it a good way to vent, but it also gives us a chance to laugh with you on your misfortunes.
So post your adventures and hope to hear from you soon!
So post your adventures and hope to hear from you soon!
Northwest Needs Some Help
So, Thanksgiving weekend. Flying to Detroit to visit some friends and Alicia's family. 39 million travelers doing the same. What were we thinking?
So our flight from BOS - DTW was scheduled to leave at 7 pm on Thanksgiving Eve. We arrived around 3 pm to be there well in advance of all the crowds. Good plan but where were the people? We checked in and were through security in roughly 30 minutes. Now just 3+ hours to sit and wait for our flight. Around 6 o'clock there was an announcement that our flight would be delayed for an hour and that the new flight time is 8 pm. Okay, no problem. Just getting tired of sitting around the airport. Good thing I brought some homework and a good book. So at 7:45 the plane finally touches down and we are told that we are all going to have to board the plane by 8:25 with the doors closed so that we can "legally" take-off due to the fatigue rules for the pilots. So at 8:15 they start boarding the plane. At 8:30 Alicia and I still have not boarded the plane due to issues with the ticket checkers. At 8:45 the plane is boarded and ready to go. At 8:46 pm the captain gets on the intercom announcing that the flight is canceled due to the legality issues.
What a mess!?! They tell us on the plane that we all need to disembark and retrieve our luggage from the carousels and that we would be put up in the Airport Hilton for the night and that we would need to be back around 6 am the next morning as the flight would leave around 6:30 am but that they would leave "when the last passenger arrives." So, we all disembark and move to the carousels to get our luggage. A couple of irate customers go to "talk" to the customer service reps who say that we won't be able to retrieve our bags as they will stay on the plane overnight. Another round of irate customers go and "talk" to the reps and then another announcement is made that we will in fact be able to get our luggage. So after waiting another 10 minutes we get our bags and walk over to the Hotel where there is a line of roughly 100 people waiting to get their hotel room for the night. Talk about the late-night crunch: 160 frustrated passengers hitting the counter at 10 pm with two or three staff...that will stretch your capabilities. Alicia and I took one look at the line and went to the hotel bar to have a bite to eat and a much needed beer. After we headed in, roughly 50 more Northwest customers decided that that was the right place to be and joined us. So let me just say that watching the bar staff deal with the onslaught of people was much more impressive than both Northwest and Hilton staffs. There was no miscommunication just pure performance. Waiters/managers/kitchen staff all kicked in to help support the 50 new customers. It was pretty impressive to me that a hotel bar could deal with such a huge rush of customers where as the Hotel and the Airline didn't. I know that some of you out there are thinking that only 50 people to deal with shouldn't be that hard and that the airline and hotel had to deal with many more, but I'm willing to argue that the 50 people addition to the bar was a much bigger group to deal with compared to the average number of people that the hotel and airline have to deal with both on a daily basis as well as in the shock occurrence.
To make matters worse, on our flight back, we were delayed for the length of our flight (i.e. - we were still sitting on the tarmac when our flight should have arrived at Boston) while we waited for deicing (note that our plane was the only one that waited that long as they had to reload both deicers while they were deicing our plane...in doing so they actually had to deice the plane twice!). To make matters worse, every 20 minutes the co-pilot would get on the intercom and tell us that we would be "on our way in 5 minutes." Talk about frustrating the customers! I think that Northwest lost a lot of future customers on these two flights (more the first than the second).
Just relating this experience to school, I find that you can observe and learn observe many things from completely unrelated fields and apply them. A good example of this is demonstrated in Freakonomics, a great book that I just finished on the plane ride - thanks Northwest!
Hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving!
More later...
So our flight from BOS - DTW was scheduled to leave at 7 pm on Thanksgiving Eve. We arrived around 3 pm to be there well in advance of all the crowds. Good plan but where were the people? We checked in and were through security in roughly 30 minutes. Now just 3+ hours to sit and wait for our flight. Around 6 o'clock there was an announcement that our flight would be delayed for an hour and that the new flight time is 8 pm. Okay, no problem. Just getting tired of sitting around the airport. Good thing I brought some homework and a good book. So at 7:45 the plane finally touches down and we are told that we are all going to have to board the plane by 8:25 with the doors closed so that we can "legally" take-off due to the fatigue rules for the pilots. So at 8:15 they start boarding the plane. At 8:30 Alicia and I still have not boarded the plane due to issues with the ticket checkers. At 8:45 the plane is boarded and ready to go. At 8:46 pm the captain gets on the intercom announcing that the flight is canceled due to the legality issues.
What a mess!?! They tell us on the plane that we all need to disembark and retrieve our luggage from the carousels and that we would be put up in the Airport Hilton for the night and that we would need to be back around 6 am the next morning as the flight would leave around 6:30 am but that they would leave "when the last passenger arrives." So, we all disembark and move to the carousels to get our luggage. A couple of irate customers go to "talk" to the customer service reps who say that we won't be able to retrieve our bags as they will stay on the plane overnight. Another round of irate customers go and "talk" to the reps and then another announcement is made that we will in fact be able to get our luggage. So after waiting another 10 minutes we get our bags and walk over to the Hotel where there is a line of roughly 100 people waiting to get their hotel room for the night. Talk about the late-night crunch: 160 frustrated passengers hitting the counter at 10 pm with two or three staff...that will stretch your capabilities. Alicia and I took one look at the line and went to the hotel bar to have a bite to eat and a much needed beer. After we headed in, roughly 50 more Northwest customers decided that that was the right place to be and joined us. So let me just say that watching the bar staff deal with the onslaught of people was much more impressive than both Northwest and Hilton staffs. There was no miscommunication just pure performance. Waiters/managers/kitchen staff all kicked in to help support the 50 new customers. It was pretty impressive to me that a hotel bar could deal with such a huge rush of customers where as the Hotel and the Airline didn't. I know that some of you out there are thinking that only 50 people to deal with shouldn't be that hard and that the airline and hotel had to deal with many more, but I'm willing to argue that the 50 people addition to the bar was a much bigger group to deal with compared to the average number of people that the hotel and airline have to deal with both on a daily basis as well as in the shock occurrence.
To make matters worse, on our flight back, we were delayed for the length of our flight (i.e. - we were still sitting on the tarmac when our flight should have arrived at Boston) while we waited for deicing (note that our plane was the only one that waited that long as they had to reload both deicers while they were deicing our plane...in doing so they actually had to deice the plane twice!). To make matters worse, every 20 minutes the co-pilot would get on the intercom and tell us that we would be "on our way in 5 minutes." Talk about frustrating the customers! I think that Northwest lost a lot of future customers on these two flights (more the first than the second).
Just relating this experience to school, I find that you can observe and learn observe many things from completely unrelated fields and apply them. A good example of this is demonstrated in Freakonomics, a great book that I just finished on the plane ride - thanks Northwest!
Hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving!
More later...
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We are off Thursday until Monday for the holiday - a much needed vacation. These past couple weeks have been pretty rough with presentations, another exam, papers and other homework piling up for the end of semester crunch. Only a couple of weeks left after Thanksgiving and still so much to do! We haven't been working the whole time as we have had a good time at the Fall Ball last weekend. It is a formal event that took place at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. Dinner and dancing for over 300 1st and 2nd year Sloanies. A good time was had by all and a great bonding event for the 1st year LFM's. Definitely something to look forward to for you potential students out there.
Well, I need to pack and get on a plane to Detroit now, so Happy Thanksgiving and see you on Monday.
Well, I need to pack and get on a plane to Detroit now, so Happy Thanksgiving and see you on Monday.
Monday, November 12, 2007
DREAM and a trip to Vermont
So this past weekend I went up to Burlington, VT with two members of my core team to go and work on our Organizational Processes project. We are working with a great non-profit based out of Burlington, called DREAM. They are a youth mentoring program who "build communities of families and college students that empower children from affordable housing neighborhoods to recognize their options, make informed decisions, and achieve their dreams." What a great program they have - from the moment that we arrived, we were welcomed not only by our gracious hosts and fellow staff members, but by a whole group of DREAM mentors and mentees! What an energy they all had for this program. We were invited to see a DREAM slideshow about a recent trip some of the mentors/mentees took to New York and Maine - every new picture was met with a loud cheer as all the kids yelled to support their fellow DREAMers. What a contagious energy! I walked in the door and immediately had a smile on my face. I would definitely recommend going to their website (http://dreamprogram.org/index.htm) and reading up on them and hopefully make a donation as they are doing some really good work up there in Vermont!
In addition to seeing DREAM in action, my teammates and I had a wonderful drive to and from VT. With the leaves changing colors and two beautiful days, we were met with some great scenery - another trip that anyone coming to New England should plan for. What better way to spend a weekend then driving, or even better - hiking, through the mountains with the fall colors. Something that I've missed since leaving New England 9 years ago! Also, on our drive, I had the great opportunity to gain a unique perspective on history, which even though I have an undergrad minor in history, I have never seen or heard before. It just so happens that my two teammates grew up in Russia and China. Two superpowers that I have heard many things about but mostly with an ethnocentric viewpoint. For the three hour car ride, I was exposed to the Russian and Chinese versions of modern history. What a great time to hear how America was viewed during the Cold War, etc. Definitely a ride that I won't forget!
Here's a challenge to all my readers: try to seek out someone/thing that you have had little exposure to and try to gain some insights on how they/it functions and how and why their/its position or perspective varies from your own. You are guaranteed to learn not only a ton about this person or thing, but you will learn a ton about yourself! Have fun with it too!
If you have any experiences you'd like to share, please leave a comment as I'd love to hear about it and so would my other readers!
More later....
In addition to seeing DREAM in action, my teammates and I had a wonderful drive to and from VT. With the leaves changing colors and two beautiful days, we were met with some great scenery - another trip that anyone coming to New England should plan for. What better way to spend a weekend then driving, or even better - hiking, through the mountains with the fall colors. Something that I've missed since leaving New England 9 years ago! Also, on our drive, I had the great opportunity to gain a unique perspective on history, which even though I have an undergrad minor in history, I have never seen or heard before. It just so happens that my two teammates grew up in Russia and China. Two superpowers that I have heard many things about but mostly with an ethnocentric viewpoint. For the three hour car ride, I was exposed to the Russian and Chinese versions of modern history. What a great time to hear how America was viewed during the Cold War, etc. Definitely a ride that I won't forget!
Here's a challenge to all my readers: try to seek out someone/thing that you have had little exposure to and try to gain some insights on how they/it functions and how and why their/its position or perspective varies from your own. You are guaranteed to learn not only a ton about this person or thing, but you will learn a ton about yourself! Have fun with it too!
If you have any experiences you'd like to share, please leave a comment as I'd love to hear about it and so would my other readers!
More later....
Thursday, November 8, 2007
LFM Video...you should check it out!
If you have a minute you should head over to http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/index.php and then click on the "Introducing the people of LFM" video link on the right hand side of the page. The Marketing and Admissions Committee put this together and we think that it does a good job portraying the program. Please take a look and let us know what you think!
More later....
More later....
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
LFM Infosession
I just wanted to thank everyone who came out to the LFM Infosession on Monday night. I felt that it was a great success! I know that I had a great time meeting everyone and it seemed that everyone I talked to had a good time and learned a lot about the program. If you can think of any way that we could have made your experience better, please let me know. Also, if you have any follow up questions that you need/want answered, please don't hesitate to e-mail me and I can do my best to answer them or get you in touch with those who can.
Other than the Infosession, the stress has already started again. The first week back to full classes and already I am feeling swamped with work. Can't believe how quickly that refreshed from a light week feeling goes away. I'm trying to get my stuff in order for a light weekend as some friends are coming in to town, but it looks as though it is going to be another long, work-filled weekend.
So just an update on classes, it seems that the first half of System Dynamics is the most popular part. We had our first class of the second half today and there were roughly as many visiting/listening students as there were students taking the second half and the total number of people in the room was under half! Wow. I'm still excited about the rest of the class though, even though it is a lot of work. For some reason, the current homework assignment isn't making all that much sense to me, but maybe that is because it is 1:10 am and I can't seem to think or sleep right now.
Well, I guess I should give it another go.
Good night and more later....
Other than the Infosession, the stress has already started again. The first week back to full classes and already I am feeling swamped with work. Can't believe how quickly that refreshed from a light week feeling goes away. I'm trying to get my stuff in order for a light weekend as some friends are coming in to town, but it looks as though it is going to be another long, work-filled weekend.
So just an update on classes, it seems that the first half of System Dynamics is the most popular part. We had our first class of the second half today and there were roughly as many visiting/listening students as there were students taking the second half and the total number of people in the room was under half! Wow. I'm still excited about the rest of the class though, even though it is a lot of work. For some reason, the current homework assignment isn't making all that much sense to me, but maybe that is because it is 1:10 am and I can't seem to think or sleep right now.
Well, I guess I should give it another go.
Good night and more later....
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
She said "Yes!"
I just wanted to share with everyone the fantastic news that Alicia and I are now engaged! Sat night/ Sunday morning I proposed to Alicia and she said "Yes!" We are both very excited about this development and most of our friends and family feel that it is way overdue (we've been together for 4 years as of the 10th of Oct!). It was fun (but taxing) calling everyone to let them know the good news. My mom and dad's response was great - my mom screamed in joy and my dad screamed "Goal!" as the Patriots had just scored again against the Dolphins. Oh well, we both know that they are excited. Alicia's step-mom had a funny one too. We just bought our friends old flat screen TV as they were upgrading to a larger model. Alicia's step-mom, when told about the engagement, asked how the TV looked on Alicia's finger. You may have to be there for that one, but we had a good time with that.
So, just wanted to pass on the news!
Take care and more later...
So, just wanted to pass on the news!
Take care and more later...
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Finally, some pictures from the El Salvador trip (Part 1)
Pictures from the trip, starting from the top:
1) A giant mosaic in front of the Museum of Art
2) A photo of a stature inside the museum
3) A park in front of the Dell building
4) Our sponsor's HQ in El Salvador
Finally some pictures of the El Salvador Trip (Part 2)
Pictures from the top down:
1) Flying into San Salvador, a shot of the countryside.
2&3) Two artifacts from the anthropology museum.
4) The facade of the Metropolitan Cathedral that was designed by Fernando Llort.
Head of the Charles
Pictures from the Head of the Charles Regatta:Pictures from top to bottom:
1) View of the BU Boathouse with Boston in the distance
2) The BU train bridge with an 8 racing away (notice all the dots in the water, these are all the teams waiting to race).
3) Upstream from the BU bridge, women's fours going on (again notice all the dots).
4) Alicia and fellow LFM, Dave, enjoying the day from the BU train bridge.
Great day in all, beautiful weather, interesting sport and what a unique event!
Rememberances...
36th Floor of the Bank of America Building -
Meeting old friends and saying my goodbyes
A sad and dreary day.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Whew!
What a long week it has been! So this past week has been mid-terms and it has been an awful lot of stress. Not just school related for me, unfortunately, but even so it has been a rough week for us LFM's. Projects, exams, etc, all due before SIP (Sloan Innovation Period) week. SIP is a mini-break for Sloanies. It is a week during which they take mini-classes to help relieve stress and break up the semester a little bit. Engineering classes still go on (bad news for LFM's) but it is pretty manageable for me as currently I am only taking one engineering class. So hopefully I will get a lot of those things accomplished that I have been meaning to, as well as spend some quality time with Alicia - who has been wonderful this semester with the amazingly hectic schedule we lead. We are planning on watching the Head of the Charles on Saturday and then possibly take a drive up to Mt. Monadnock for a little hiking. Should be a great trip and the weather is perfect for some hiking. Just to get away for a little while will be great.
Some good news is that my G-lab team finally has our company selected. The company is KORRES and here is a little bit about them from their site www.korres.com:
From homeopathic remedies to natural products
Korres Natural Products is a Greek company with roots in Athens’ first ever Homeopathic Pharmacy. Set up in 1996 with the aim to utilise its extensive scientific resources for the creation of beneficial and safe products, the company today offers a complete skin and hair care range, make-up, sun care products and herbal preparations. A team of experienced scientists worked closely to make this happen, sharing common goals and values.
We aren't sure of the full project scope yet, but I will keep you updated as I learn more.
That's all I have for you now. Have a great weekend and hope to see some of you at the LFM Infosession on Oct. 29th on the MIT campus. If you are going to be in the area and wish to join us, please go to http://lfm.mit.edu/?fileName=events/lfminfoevening_2007.html to learn more and to register for the event. The earlier the better as we still need to let the caterers know how much food to prepare!
See you there!
Some good news is that my G-lab team finally has our company selected. The company is KORRES and here is a little bit about them from their site www.korres.com:
From homeopathic remedies to natural products
Korres Natural Products is a Greek company with roots in Athens’ first ever Homeopathic Pharmacy. Set up in 1996 with the aim to utilise its extensive scientific resources for the creation of beneficial and safe products, the company today offers a complete skin and hair care range, make-up, sun care products and herbal preparations. A team of experienced scientists worked closely to make this happen, sharing common goals and values.
We aren't sure of the full project scope yet, but I will keep you updated as I learn more.
That's all I have for you now. Have a great weekend and hope to see some of you at the LFM Infosession on Oct. 29th on the MIT campus. If you are going to be in the area and wish to join us, please go to http://lfm.mit.edu/?fileName=events/lfminfoevening_2007.html to learn more and to register for the event. The earlier the better as we still need to let the caterers know how much food to prepare!
See you there!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Dell – El Salvador: My longest blog to date.
So I just got back from my trip to San Salvador, El Salvador on an information seeking trip to help my Integrating the Lean Enterprise group a basic understanding of Dell’s Customer Service Call Center. We are working with Dell to help them understand and develop their lean culture at their El Salvador location so as to help create the model lean call center for all of Dell. What a great trip we had though…
Day 1 - We left early Sunday morning and arrived in San Salvador, via Miami, by noon local time. Flying into San Salvador, we flew along the Pacific coast where we saw the best surfing in Central America, the coast of El Salvador. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to even make it to the beach let alone go learn to surf…maybe next time! We were met at the airport by a driver who took us to our hotel – the Sheraton Presidente. As soon as we made it to the hotel, the rain and thunderstorms started. I really enjoy thunderstorms, so I was excited to experience one in El Salvador. After relaxing in the hotel for a little while, my teammate and I headed out on the town to go and see San Salvador. Our hotel was located next door to the museum of modern art so we decided to venture in but unfortunately it appeared closed due to construction. Instead, we decided to head on down to the Anthropological Museum. It too seemed closed, but eventually we figured out how to buy tickets and how to get into the exhibits, which were all in Spanish. It was very interesting to try and understand all the different semi-technical Spanish that isn’t taught in Spanish 1 or 2, but somehow we got by. After the museum, we decided to walk downtown and see the Metropolitan Cathedral – it took 50 years to build and the façade was designed by a famous El Salvadorean artist Fernando Llort (more on him later). After seeing the Cathedral we walked around downtown San Salvador and took in the sights and sounds of the street markets that flowed from the Plaza Barrios in front of the Cathedral. As the sun was setting and the vendors were packing up their belongings, we caught a cab and headed back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel, we discovered from the concierge how to get into the art museum and so we decided to head over and see everything. A small but great exhibit was on show and we had a good time seeing the museum. We were pretty exhausted after our day of travelling and sightseeing, so we decided to have dinner at the hotel and then called it a night.
Day 2 – Monday morning we had a breakfast meeting arranged with the Director of the El Salvador site and our local Dell contact. After discussing the scope of our project, we made our way to the Dell facility where we were quickly engrossed in interviews and learning about the call center space. Neither of us had ever worked with a call center before and I must say that it is VERY impressive: lots of people, data and information all travelling around at a fast pace to try and service customers in the best possible way. With all of my previous history, I was actively comparing the space to a manufacturing facility – there are many similarities, but at the same time there are many unique differences. After a full day of getting our feet wet, we headed back to the hotel tired and full of new information. After relaxing for a bit and checking in with Alicia, we headed out to a “typical” Salvadorean restaurant called Alo Heustra. Delicious food, but I don’t necessarily agree that it was typical due to the sheer fact that they had no pupusas on the menu. Just for those of you who don’t know, pupusas are the national food of El Salvador. There are pupuserias on the sidewalks and all over town and every El Salvadorean eats them at least twice a week (at least that is what our contact said). Also, over the course of these two days, I have now found my favorite beer, Bahia. It is made in San Salvador and is awesome. If anyone knows where I can find this beer in the States, please let me know. Just for the beer aficionados it is a beer similar to Corona, but oh so much better. On our return trip, my teammate laughed at me as we were eating – down to my last sip of beer, I said “Goodbye, my friend” and finished off my drink. I think I had the last laugh though as she almost had beer go through her nose because she was laughing so hard. Anyway, let’s get back to the rest of the trip.
Day 3 – Tuesday morning we were met and taken back to the Dell center. The day was packed with more interviews and when we had a minute we were able to sit down with some of the call center agents and the call center operations agents to see what they did. This was a great learning experience for me. By “side-jacking” with an agent, I was able to hear the whole call and problem resolution and let me just say that we, as Americans, need some work on how to be polite. I was embarrassed for me and for America as I stood there listening to these calls while a great employee, and I will say that every single person that I met on this trip was exceptionally kind and talented, took it all in stride and still helped the customer out – I know that I wouldn’t be able to stand it for long. Anyway, I just want to urge you all that the next time you make a call, treat everyone you talk to as you would like to be treated. Hopefully, if you all take these words of advice you will make many people (not just the employees I met) much happier. After another long day at Dell, our contact took us out to dinner at Arbol de Dios, one of the best pupuserias in town. We ran into another Dell employee with an American in tow so we all ate wonderful food together and had a great time hearing and sharing stories – definitely a night to remember! At this restaurant, there was a gallery exhibit of the same artist who designed the Cathedral. He had a couple of paintings for sale and I purchased two of them. I’d love to post them for you all to see as they have a great style and wonderful colors, but unfortunately I can’t. I can however suggest that you look up Fernando Llort on-line to see if he has any paintings on there. I can however share a photo of the façade of the Cathedral (see the photo above) so you can have some idea of his work (though the paintings are a very different style). After dinner, my teammate and I worked late into the night getting our interview questions as well as an on-line survey in order for our half-day on Wednesday. After a late night, we headed to bed.
Day 4 – Woke up early to pack and get everything in order for our return trip to the States. We made our way back to Dell and spent the morning in an interview with a Lean Change Agent (“I met Captain Kaizen”) who was a delight to talk to. He was very positively focused on his lean actions and was rolling out his own ideas to help influence the lean culture at Dell – I must say he was a great spokesperson for lean at the facility and hopefully he will be able to help us (and us help him) throughout our project. After our meeting, we made a trip to a local bakery to pick up some semitas (two layers of a pastry filled in with a jelly of your choice) and quesadillas (different from the Mexican quesadilla, but I haven’t had it yet so I don’t know how it differs) to bring home to share with our friends and family. We then headed back to the office for our last interview of the day and then took off to go to the airport.
Follow-up: What an amazing trip we had. It was my first experience with being a consultant and it was especially interesting in that I got to visit another country to do so. Though there are nicer places in El Salvador than the capital, I must say that everyone I met was amazingly kind, intelligent and full of energy – even in the call center where they are exposed to high stress and irritated customers, even there they had an amazing ability to have fun. Definitely a trip to remember and I hope to head back down to El Salvador to see the rest of the country and to see how our project results are implemented!
I’ll have photos up in the next couple of days, so please come back soon.
More later…
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Quick Update
So it was my birthday this past weekend. Friday night (my actual b-day) was a great time hanging out with some LFM and Sloan friends. We all went out to a couple of bars and I had Happy Birthday sung to me in 8 languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Latvian, Hebrew, and Czech. Wow! What an impressive array of languages. Definitely a treat to have everyone sing in their native languages. On Saturday, Alicia and I took a trip to Portland, ME to hang out with my brothers, sister-in-law and niece. My brothers all flew in from Portland, OR and New York City. A good time together and the first time that has happened since Christmas of 2005 so it was a nice reunion.
On other things, I am heading down to San Salvador, El Salvador on Saturday (or so) to spend the first part of next week working on my Integrating the Lean Enterprise with Dell, our client, who is looking for my group to implement lean in their call center so that their El Salvador facility becomes the model call center for all of Dell. Should be a fun and interesting, though stressful, trip. We have been awaiting some documents from Dell so that we can create a great experience for all next week, but as of yet we have not received any of these required documents. Should be a learning experience for us all!
On the class side of things, the amount of work is ridiculous. I guess part of the problem is taking System Dynamics, G-Lab and Lean at the same time in addition to the core. Very overwhelming. I highly suggest taking at least the first two, we'll see about the third. And a note to all potential LFM's: when you sign up for Fall classes at the end of Summer semester and there is a high interest in both G-lab and System Dynamics, sign up for G-lab. Bid all your points on G-lab. System Dynamics is a great class that you all should take, but with the drop out rate of the 2nd year Sloanies who are looking for less work, there will be plenty of seats available for you - I think that 30 - 40 people dropped the class after the third week!
So that is all I have for now. I'll have another update after my trip next week. Tune in again around the 12th or so. More later...
On other things, I am heading down to San Salvador, El Salvador on Saturday (or so) to spend the first part of next week working on my Integrating the Lean Enterprise with Dell, our client, who is looking for my group to implement lean in their call center so that their El Salvador facility becomes the model call center for all of Dell. Should be a fun and interesting, though stressful, trip. We have been awaiting some documents from Dell so that we can create a great experience for all next week, but as of yet we have not received any of these required documents. Should be a learning experience for us all!
On the class side of things, the amount of work is ridiculous. I guess part of the problem is taking System Dynamics, G-Lab and Lean at the same time in addition to the core. Very overwhelming. I highly suggest taking at least the first two, we'll see about the third. And a note to all potential LFM's: when you sign up for Fall classes at the end of Summer semester and there is a high interest in both G-lab and System Dynamics, sign up for G-lab. Bid all your points on G-lab. System Dynamics is a great class that you all should take, but with the drop out rate of the 2nd year Sloanies who are looking for less work, there will be plenty of seats available for you - I think that 30 - 40 people dropped the class after the third week!
So that is all I have for now. I'll have another update after my trip next week. Tune in again around the 12th or so. More later...
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Mid-September Already?!?
Well, let's see. It is mid-September and we are well on our way through the semester. The 2nd year LFM's are in town for mid-stream reviews. This is a time for them to exhibit what they have been working on for the past three months to faculty, staff and other students. We also had a good time with peer reviews last night where the 2nd years gave insights to us 1st years on internships, what to expect for the rest of the year and just getting to know each other. It was a good time.
We're heading out this weekend to Vermont for a two-class camping and rafting trip which should be awesome. Leaving Friday afternoon and coming back on Sunday. Two days of roughing it with a nice paddle down some Class III/IV rapids. The river is supposedly only opened up twice per year so I hope that that means that we're going to have a good time. It will be great to meet everyone though in an informal, fun setting.
As for school, Alicia already despises how much work I have. I did get into the System Dynamics class which has been a lot of work but is a great class. I am also still trying to organize my G-Lab experience. I have my team set, but since the LFM's have to go on the Domestic Plant Trek during the time that the Sloanies will be on the internship with G-Lab, we have to choose our companies last. We get to go on our internships for G-Lab at the end of Spring semester (right before our LFM internships). Should be an interesting transition! I also have a team for Integrating the Lean Enterprise. We are going to be working for Dell in Austin, TX and San Salvador, El Salvador. We still need to work out the details of our project, but it sounds like it is going to be great. I'm excited to get some exposure to an LFM sponsor company before the internship. Should be some great experience too!
More on school, there is an LFM Information Session coming up on October 29th. You all should come out and see us here. Send me an e-mail and I will give you more information, but it should be a great time to meet and greet some MIT faculty and LFM students/alumni. Hope to see you all there!
That's all I have for you now, just been buried with work these past few weeks. So, more later...
We're heading out this weekend to Vermont for a two-class camping and rafting trip which should be awesome. Leaving Friday afternoon and coming back on Sunday. Two days of roughing it with a nice paddle down some Class III/IV rapids. The river is supposedly only opened up twice per year so I hope that that means that we're going to have a good time. It will be great to meet everyone though in an informal, fun setting.
As for school, Alicia already despises how much work I have. I did get into the System Dynamics class which has been a lot of work but is a great class. I am also still trying to organize my G-Lab experience. I have my team set, but since the LFM's have to go on the Domestic Plant Trek during the time that the Sloanies will be on the internship with G-Lab, we have to choose our companies last. We get to go on our internships for G-Lab at the end of Spring semester (right before our LFM internships). Should be an interesting transition! I also have a team for Integrating the Lean Enterprise. We are going to be working for Dell in Austin, TX and San Salvador, El Salvador. We still need to work out the details of our project, but it sounds like it is going to be great. I'm excited to get some exposure to an LFM sponsor company before the internship. Should be some great experience too!
More on school, there is an LFM Information Session coming up on October 29th. You all should come out and see us here. Send me an e-mail and I will give you more information, but it should be a great time to meet and greet some MIT faculty and LFM students/alumni. Hope to see you all there!
That's all I have for you now, just been buried with work these past few weeks. So, more later...
Saturday, September 1, 2007
End of Orientation
So Orientation is over! Classes start Tuesday next week and we already have homework assignments!
The rest of Orientation was a blast. The Warren Center did in fact help my team to bond. We had a great day working through the physical challenges together and having a great time while doing so. To cap the day off, we had a raft building challenge with our entire ocean. The goal was to build a raft (using 4 - 55 gallon plastic barrels, 8 - 10ft 2x4's, 2 long pieces of rope and 4 short pieces of rope) that would transport three of your teammates across a stretch of open water to a dock where you had to drop off a flag and then return to the beach. We had an hour to complete all of the tasks (including disassembly of the raft) and trying to gain as many points as possible for our ocean (as we were competing against the other oceans). My team kicked some butt. We built a raft that was solid as a rock (a floating rock, I guess) that we were able to get to and from the dock in less than 4 minutes. We were the first team to have our boat on the water and from there we just started racking up the points. We made it to the dock and back 5 times...then we lent our raft out to two other teams who were both able to make it to the dock and back and then we also carried some other teams' flags out to the dock! Definitely a great experience for all, but I think that we had the most fun.
The rest of Orientation was spent practicing with a Nike case study and hearing from different professors about Leadership and the Law and the Beer Game (a supply chain management game that exhibits the "bull whip effect" in almost every case. A lot of fun and a lot of new faces all around campus. I'm looking forward to and dreading Tuesday all at the same time because at that time we'll also have all the 2nd years back on campus so we'll have over 700 students packed into the spaces that the 47 LFM's filled this summer all by ourselves. It is going to be pretty crowded!
On another note, I am feeling pretty confident that I will get into the Systems Dynamics class - which is great as Prof. Sterman gave another lecture after the Beer Game that was equally great to the first time that I heard him at InterviewFest. Can't wait to see the rest of his lectures in class! I did not however get the opportunity to be one of the two MIT students working with the Nokia project. Two other LFM students did though and I am very happy for them to have the opportunity. I'll just be able to look around for something else to do with my time (which is not going to be an issue. There are far too many great opportunities available to us - it is very overwhelming.
Well, I am going to head out for the evening. Take care and more later....
The rest of Orientation was a blast. The Warren Center did in fact help my team to bond. We had a great day working through the physical challenges together and having a great time while doing so. To cap the day off, we had a raft building challenge with our entire ocean. The goal was to build a raft (using 4 - 55 gallon plastic barrels, 8 - 10ft 2x4's, 2 long pieces of rope and 4 short pieces of rope) that would transport three of your teammates across a stretch of open water to a dock where you had to drop off a flag and then return to the beach. We had an hour to complete all of the tasks (including disassembly of the raft) and trying to gain as many points as possible for our ocean (as we were competing against the other oceans). My team kicked some butt. We built a raft that was solid as a rock (a floating rock, I guess) that we were able to get to and from the dock in less than 4 minutes. We were the first team to have our boat on the water and from there we just started racking up the points. We made it to the dock and back 5 times...then we lent our raft out to two other teams who were both able to make it to the dock and back and then we also carried some other teams' flags out to the dock! Definitely a great experience for all, but I think that we had the most fun.
The rest of Orientation was spent practicing with a Nike case study and hearing from different professors about Leadership and the Law and the Beer Game (a supply chain management game that exhibits the "bull whip effect" in almost every case. A lot of fun and a lot of new faces all around campus. I'm looking forward to and dreading Tuesday all at the same time because at that time we'll also have all the 2nd years back on campus so we'll have over 700 students packed into the spaces that the 47 LFM's filled this summer all by ourselves. It is going to be pretty crowded!
On another note, I am feeling pretty confident that I will get into the Systems Dynamics class - which is great as Prof. Sterman gave another lecture after the Beer Game that was equally great to the first time that I heard him at InterviewFest. Can't wait to see the rest of his lectures in class! I did not however get the opportunity to be one of the two MIT students working with the Nokia project. Two other LFM students did though and I am very happy for them to have the opportunity. I'll just be able to look around for something else to do with my time (which is not going to be an issue. There are far too many great opportunities available to us - it is very overwhelming.
Well, I am going to head out for the evening. Take care and more later....
Monday, August 27, 2007
Sloan Orientation
So we had our first day of Sloan Orientation today. What a difference from this summer. We were officially welcomed as a class of 393 students - 18 more than expected - including all the LFM's. From the 47 people that we had spent all summer with, to the 344 new faces of people to meet, we were all struck by the huge number of people that we'll be spending the next two years with.
After breakfast and the official welcome, we were introduced to our Oceans (smaller groups of 60 or so people that we will take the MBA core with this Fall) one of Atlantic, Baltic, Carribean, Indian, Mediterranean, or Pacific. I am in the Baltic Ocean (yes, we are aware that some of these are not in fact oceans) and then my core group is named the Cranes. Each core group of 6 or 7 students is named after a different type of bird. I don't remember all the different varieties off hand. But after being introduced to our core group, we split into our core group with our Pilot (a second-year MBA student guide who is one of many available resources for us to get acquainted to the program and the return to school) to continue our introductions and see what our groups are made of. It is weird to readjust after the summer semester and becoming such good friends with my group and now having to start all over again from the beginning to develop a new working relationship with a whole new set of people. I have high hopes for my core group and can't wait to see how everything works out.
After more group bonding and a couple lectures, we all congregated again with our SO's (significant others if I haven't mentioned that term yet) at a New England-style clambake with tons of lobsters, clams, mussels, oysters, shrimp, corn, clam chowder, and Sam Adams (not to mention a few other varieties of beer). Mmmm....so good. Definitely something to look forward to for any MBA's and LFM's next year! After spending the evening mingling with new students as well as seeing all the LFM's again after a week's vacation (it is amazing to see how much you truly missed your classmates after only a week! - especially after spending so many hours in the LFM offices working with them over the last two weeks of the summer semester). Hopefully, the bonding with the MBA classmates gets to this level too!
So tomorrow Oceans A, B, and C are heading out to an Outward Bound style program in Ashland, MA called the Warren Center to help push us to bond with our teams. It will be a beautiful day (weather-wise) tomorrow so we are all looking forward to it. Will let you know more about the trip later.
I am awaiting to hear about two classes that I want to take this year. One is System Dynamics with Prof. John Sterman. He gave a guest lecture at the InterviewFest that was amazing. It is a very popular class and I hope to make it into the class (currently I am #3 on the waitlist and we have been told that you will probably get in if you are below #7 or 8) so I'm hoping. Another class is a product development class that technically isn't until Spring semester, but for two MIT students and two Rhode Island School of Design students this class would start this semester as these students would be working with a group of 6 or 7 students from various universities in Finland while working on a project for Nokia. Such a great opportunity to work with a multi-national team on a product development project. I have an interview with the Professor who is teaching the course this Friday to see if I can be one of the two MIT students. I will let you know how it goes.
That is everything that I have for you now. More later....
After breakfast and the official welcome, we were introduced to our Oceans (smaller groups of 60 or so people that we will take the MBA core with this Fall) one of Atlantic, Baltic, Carribean, Indian, Mediterranean, or Pacific. I am in the Baltic Ocean (yes, we are aware that some of these are not in fact oceans) and then my core group is named the Cranes. Each core group of 6 or 7 students is named after a different type of bird. I don't remember all the different varieties off hand. But after being introduced to our core group, we split into our core group with our Pilot (a second-year MBA student guide who is one of many available resources for us to get acquainted to the program and the return to school) to continue our introductions and see what our groups are made of. It is weird to readjust after the summer semester and becoming such good friends with my group and now having to start all over again from the beginning to develop a new working relationship with a whole new set of people. I have high hopes for my core group and can't wait to see how everything works out.
After more group bonding and a couple lectures, we all congregated again with our SO's (significant others if I haven't mentioned that term yet) at a New England-style clambake with tons of lobsters, clams, mussels, oysters, shrimp, corn, clam chowder, and Sam Adams (not to mention a few other varieties of beer). Mmmm....so good. Definitely something to look forward to for any MBA's and LFM's next year! After spending the evening mingling with new students as well as seeing all the LFM's again after a week's vacation (it is amazing to see how much you truly missed your classmates after only a week! - especially after spending so many hours in the LFM offices working with them over the last two weeks of the summer semester). Hopefully, the bonding with the MBA classmates gets to this level too!
So tomorrow Oceans A, B, and C are heading out to an Outward Bound style program in Ashland, MA called the Warren Center to help push us to bond with our teams. It will be a beautiful day (weather-wise) tomorrow so we are all looking forward to it. Will let you know more about the trip later.
I am awaiting to hear about two classes that I want to take this year. One is System Dynamics with Prof. John Sterman. He gave a guest lecture at the InterviewFest that was amazing. It is a very popular class and I hope to make it into the class (currently I am #3 on the waitlist and we have been told that you will probably get in if you are below #7 or 8) so I'm hoping. Another class is a product development class that technically isn't until Spring semester, but for two MIT students and two Rhode Island School of Design students this class would start this semester as these students would be working with a group of 6 or 7 students from various universities in Finland while working on a project for Nokia. Such a great opportunity to work with a multi-national team on a product development project. I have an interview with the Professor who is teaching the course this Friday to see if I can be one of the two MIT students. I will let you know how it goes.
That is everything that I have for you now. More later....
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Some more photos...
Well, I have spent some time finally getting some of my photos in order. If you like the ones below, feel free to check out a quickly put together website here: http://picasaweb.google.com/drew.corum
I haven't had any time to title each picture or give a location, but feel free to e-mail me with any questions about locations or anything else.
Can't believe that the week of vacation is over. One more day and we start orientation.
More later....
I haven't had any time to title each picture or give a location, but feel free to e-mail me with any questions about locations or anything else.
Can't believe that the week of vacation is over. One more day and we start orientation.
More later....
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Summer Vacation....if you can call it that
So, classes finished Friday and we capped them off with a nice class picnic out on one of the campus lawns. We had a good class turnout and we all enjoyed a nice leisurely afternoon eating thai food and mixing and mingling with everyone before our week off of classes. Most people are heading out of town for at least a mini-vacation (our summer vacation...though summer is almost over) though some are taking the whole week off with trips planned for all over the country and more (California, Cabo, Paris, etc.). Alicia and I decided to take a mini-vacation as we still have a lot of errands to run that we haven't been able to do since moving to town.
Our vacation started Friday night with a trip to Tanglewood. Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and they have a beautiful pavilion and estate that visitors are invited to roam around before the concerts begin. We rented a car to get to the concert with the plan of having a nice picnic and a chance to roam the grounds before the show, but due to excessive construction on the Mass Turnpike, we arrived just in time to find a spot on the lawn and settle in to see the show. The first half was Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" which I swear I have seen or heard before though I have no memory as to when or where (Mom or Dad, any ideas?). It was a great piece with two very talented soloists showcasing their skills. During the applause and then intermission, the wind kicked up and then the rain started pouring down. The entire audience on the lawn decided that it was too much for them and picked up their things and left. Alicia and I were determined to see the next piece (Alicia's favorite) Brahms' Symphony No. 1 so we decided to take shelter under a big tree. Apparently, this was not a good idea as the police and fire marshall came over to us and suggested we move under the pavilion. What a great idea! We were able to get some very nice seats in the relative warmth of the pavilion and truly enjoyed the balance of Brahms and the wild weather we were getting. Lightning and thunder pounded outside while the BSO did their best to counter. An amazing experience for all! Definitely one that we'll remember forever.
The next day, we had plans to head down to Newport, RI with some classmates and SOs. We got up early to return the rental car and then met up with everyone to catch a ride down to RI. 1.5 hours later, we arrived and found a great beach to hang out at for the day. A little cold out of the water due to a steady wind (not to mention a LOT of sand blown all over and in to our things) forced us to spend a lot of time in the water trying to bodysurf in the waves. First time for some of us to try and bodysurf so it was a fun and frustrating day. After tiring ourselves out, we went into downtown Newport and had lunch. Then we headed back home first heading through the Mansion Avenue - a road lined on both sides with ridiculously giant houses. What a sight to see! Definitely would suggest a visit down this road whenever you make it to Newport.
On Monday morning, we woke up early and headed out to Martha's Vineyard for a early-week-weekend-getaway. It only takes about 3.5 hours to make it from our front door to the island docks and so we were able to spend most of Monday exploring the island. It was suggested that we take the day to explore the up-island towns of Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and Vineyard Haven. Since we didn't have a car or moped (hated on the island), we used the Martha's Vineyard Bus line to get around. Only $6 per person for an all day pass, it was quite a deal for us. We had fun travelling from town to town window shopping (the weather was sufficiently cold to keep everyone away from the beaches) at all the ridiculous things that rich people like and buy. My favorite item of ridiculousness was a $2,000 diamond encrusted bracelet pendant that resembled Martha's Vineyard. The catch was that the band was a piece of string. If I owned a $2,000 bracelet, I would not trust a piece of string to hold it on my wrist! We grew tired of each town as every one had all the same stores and lacked the small town fishing village feel. I think that there were two Black Dog stores in every town! Talk about a monopoly! People everywhere all decked out in their Black Dog shirts, shoes, umbrellas, etc. They did have a great bakery though, which we would highly recommend. Another recommendation would be The Net Result in Vineyard Haven. Great seafood that you take out and eat on large picnic tables. Great food and a lot of fun! After spending the day at the up-island towns, we were a little disappointed with everything that Martha's Vineyard had to offer. We had a nice dinner in Oak Bluffs and then headed back to our B&B.
The next day we decided to head out to the down-island towns and Gay Head beach/lighthouse. Our first stop was the lighthouse and though there was a great view, we felt that it was just a tourist trap. The bus only came every hour and there wasn't a whole lot to do there (though there were plenty of shops for you to buy things at). The next stop was Menemsha and this was quite a treat. It was still the sleepy little fishing village that we were looking for. We had a lot of fun walking around this town (where the movie "Jaws" was based) and wished that we had more time to spend here. If we come back this will be our first stop, not our last! After a brief visit to Menemsha, we headed back home. Again, a roughly 3.5 hours of travel and we were home - tired, but very relaxed.
Well, I have to get going, Alicia and I are going to go walk the Freedom Trail this afternoon, so more later...
Our vacation started Friday night with a trip to Tanglewood. Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and they have a beautiful pavilion and estate that visitors are invited to roam around before the concerts begin. We rented a car to get to the concert with the plan of having a nice picnic and a chance to roam the grounds before the show, but due to excessive construction on the Mass Turnpike, we arrived just in time to find a spot on the lawn and settle in to see the show. The first half was Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" which I swear I have seen or heard before though I have no memory as to when or where (Mom or Dad, any ideas?). It was a great piece with two very talented soloists showcasing their skills. During the applause and then intermission, the wind kicked up and then the rain started pouring down. The entire audience on the lawn decided that it was too much for them and picked up their things and left. Alicia and I were determined to see the next piece (Alicia's favorite) Brahms' Symphony No. 1 so we decided to take shelter under a big tree. Apparently, this was not a good idea as the police and fire marshall came over to us and suggested we move under the pavilion. What a great idea! We were able to get some very nice seats in the relative warmth of the pavilion and truly enjoyed the balance of Brahms and the wild weather we were getting. Lightning and thunder pounded outside while the BSO did their best to counter. An amazing experience for all! Definitely one that we'll remember forever.
The next day, we had plans to head down to Newport, RI with some classmates and SOs. We got up early to return the rental car and then met up with everyone to catch a ride down to RI. 1.5 hours later, we arrived and found a great beach to hang out at for the day. A little cold out of the water due to a steady wind (not to mention a LOT of sand blown all over and in to our things) forced us to spend a lot of time in the water trying to bodysurf in the waves. First time for some of us to try and bodysurf so it was a fun and frustrating day. After tiring ourselves out, we went into downtown Newport and had lunch. Then we headed back home first heading through the Mansion Avenue - a road lined on both sides with ridiculously giant houses. What a sight to see! Definitely would suggest a visit down this road whenever you make it to Newport.
On Monday morning, we woke up early and headed out to Martha's Vineyard for a early-week-weekend-getaway. It only takes about 3.5 hours to make it from our front door to the island docks and so we were able to spend most of Monday exploring the island. It was suggested that we take the day to explore the up-island towns of Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and Vineyard Haven. Since we didn't have a car or moped (hated on the island), we used the Martha's Vineyard Bus line to get around. Only $6 per person for an all day pass, it was quite a deal for us. We had fun travelling from town to town window shopping (the weather was sufficiently cold to keep everyone away from the beaches) at all the ridiculous things that rich people like and buy. My favorite item of ridiculousness was a $2,000 diamond encrusted bracelet pendant that resembled Martha's Vineyard. The catch was that the band was a piece of string. If I owned a $2,000 bracelet, I would not trust a piece of string to hold it on my wrist! We grew tired of each town as every one had all the same stores and lacked the small town fishing village feel. I think that there were two Black Dog stores in every town! Talk about a monopoly! People everywhere all decked out in their Black Dog shirts, shoes, umbrellas, etc. They did have a great bakery though, which we would highly recommend. Another recommendation would be The Net Result in Vineyard Haven. Great seafood that you take out and eat on large picnic tables. Great food and a lot of fun! After spending the day at the up-island towns, we were a little disappointed with everything that Martha's Vineyard had to offer. We had a nice dinner in Oak Bluffs and then headed back to our B&B.
The next day we decided to head out to the down-island towns and Gay Head beach/lighthouse. Our first stop was the lighthouse and though there was a great view, we felt that it was just a tourist trap. The bus only came every hour and there wasn't a whole lot to do there (though there were plenty of shops for you to buy things at). The next stop was Menemsha and this was quite a treat. It was still the sleepy little fishing village that we were looking for. We had a lot of fun walking around this town (where the movie "Jaws" was based) and wished that we had more time to spend here. If we come back this will be our first stop, not our last! After a brief visit to Menemsha, we headed back home. Again, a roughly 3.5 hours of travel and we were home - tired, but very relaxed.
Well, I have to get going, Alicia and I are going to go walk the Freedom Trail this afternoon, so more later...
Monday, August 13, 2007
Wow...an update...finally.
So life has been pretty interesting these past couple of weeks. Things have gone from a "moderate" level of work to a complete over-burdening of our time. This weekend was spent by everyone living in the LFM offices working on our Statistics helicopters and Systems Optimization Projects. The Statistics helicopters project is for each group to design the best helicopter that they can by running under 100 simulation flights with different designs. By applying statistics to the results of the simulation runs, we were able to determine which aspects of the design were important to the flight's success. By running successive models we were able to determine the optimized solution for our design. We had the "fly-off" today in class. Unofficial results: my group's heli was the closest to the target. I don't know about the time though. Note to future students: Get started on this project early on so that everything doesn't bunch up in the last week. It wasn't rolled out to us very well and so caught the whole class off-guard. So get it done. Early.
We based our Systems Optimization project on my previous work experience at Visteon scheduling production on the plant floor. We were able to set up a simulated factory using Excel and premium Solver and then we were able to set constraints based on the work environment (Labor Contract, hours worked, part/line constraints, etc). Pretty cool to see our model running as when I was the Supervisor, I would spend multiple hours everyday creating and adjusting the production schedule. Our model on the other hand gives a good idea of what parts need to run in about 5 minutes! It is a little simplified from real life, but what a great tool it could have been for me over those 3 years. Sat through 3 group presentations of the Systems project and I was really impressed by the results. We have two more classes and 6 more projects to see and I can't wait.
So classes end this Friday! None of us can believe that school is almost over. The summer just blew right by. Everyone is still having fun (though more stressed) and it is interesting to see how our class has come together over the past two and a half months. People are taking the week off and going on vacation, back home, or getting the things they need to do (that should have been done earlier but haven't had the time to do) done. Alicia and I are planning a day trip to Martha's Vineyard for the early part of next week and then after we get back we are getting our MA ID's, parking passes and running all the other errands that need to be run for the next semester. Another note to future students: spend a week or more in town before classes start. Get all your moving stuff taken care of during this time (ID, bank accounts, mail forwarding, etc) as you really don't have much time during the summer to do any of this. The summer moves really fast and it is hard to stay on top of the work let alone these extra tasks.
Well, I need to get back to class. More later....
We based our Systems Optimization project on my previous work experience at Visteon scheduling production on the plant floor. We were able to set up a simulated factory using Excel and premium Solver and then we were able to set constraints based on the work environment (Labor Contract, hours worked, part/line constraints, etc). Pretty cool to see our model running as when I was the Supervisor, I would spend multiple hours everyday creating and adjusting the production schedule. Our model on the other hand gives a good idea of what parts need to run in about 5 minutes! It is a little simplified from real life, but what a great tool it could have been for me over those 3 years. Sat through 3 group presentations of the Systems project and I was really impressed by the results. We have two more classes and 6 more projects to see and I can't wait.
So classes end this Friday! None of us can believe that school is almost over. The summer just blew right by. Everyone is still having fun (though more stressed) and it is interesting to see how our class has come together over the past two and a half months. People are taking the week off and going on vacation, back home, or getting the things they need to do (that should have been done earlier but haven't had the time to do) done. Alicia and I are planning a day trip to Martha's Vineyard for the early part of next week and then after we get back we are getting our MA ID's, parking passes and running all the other errands that need to be run for the next semester. Another note to future students: spend a week or more in town before classes start. Get all your moving stuff taken care of during this time (ID, bank accounts, mail forwarding, etc) as you really don't have much time during the summer to do any of this. The summer moves really fast and it is hard to stay on top of the work let alone these extra tasks.
Well, I need to get back to class. More later....
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Work Overload
So as I predicted, the work load post-weekends away is rough. The stress is definitely building. In small part, we have a Leadership paper, a Systems Optimization problem set, an interview of a front-line worker and write-up on that interview, an Operations Management factory simulation and two plant tours in the next week...PLUS three of my teammates (including me) are heading out of town AGAIN this weekend to go to weddings. This will be the third one this summer. Although weddings are fun, they are a lot of extra stress that I'm not always ready for. This one should be a little easier than the last two as the groom is my old college roommate instead of friends of Alicia's. Even though I get along with all of her friends, it will just be nice to be able to relax with an old friend of mine for a while and forget about work for a bit.
In other news, in the LFM program students do a lot of work both in academics or in committees. I am in two committees this year: I am a co-chair on the Marketing & Admissions Committee as well as member of the LFM/China LFM Synergy Committee. Given the first position, I hope to meet all of you who are reading this blog at some point this year either at an InfoSession, Open House, Interview Fest or through the Ambassador's Program. Please e-mail me with any questions on any of these events and I will get you more information about them. Okay, I'm done with the plugs for now. The LFM/CLFM Synergy Committee is going to be a lot of fun too. In case you don't know, MIT is helping SJTU create their own LFM program. This year will be the first year of the CLFM program and so we created a committee to help connect the two programs both academically and socially. My main goal for this committee is to get as many of the CLFM students and the LFM students to visit each other and work together on tiger teams, internships or other activities. Should be a great challenge for me and our committee.
Another event that occurred recently was the bidding on Sloan classes. In order to take a class at Sloan you are given 1000 points with which to bid on your classes. I took all of my points and bid for a class called G-lab. For an article on G-lab you can go to http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/global-0315.html to check it out. I'm psyched to let you all know that I got lucky and got in! (out of 24 or so LFMers that wanted to take the class only 16 were allowed - let's hope that they all can take it after the waitlist round). Can't wait to see what kind of projects we'll be working on! Definitely come back and find out.
Well, I think that I've been slacking off enough now. Time to get back to that Leadership paper.
More later...
In other news, in the LFM program students do a lot of work both in academics or in committees. I am in two committees this year: I am a co-chair on the Marketing & Admissions Committee as well as member of the LFM/China LFM Synergy Committee. Given the first position, I hope to meet all of you who are reading this blog at some point this year either at an InfoSession, Open House, Interview Fest or through the Ambassador's Program. Please e-mail me with any questions on any of these events and I will get you more information about them. Okay, I'm done with the plugs for now. The LFM/CLFM Synergy Committee is going to be a lot of fun too. In case you don't know, MIT is helping SJTU create their own LFM program. This year will be the first year of the CLFM program and so we created a committee to help connect the two programs both academically and socially. My main goal for this committee is to get as many of the CLFM students and the LFM students to visit each other and work together on tiger teams, internships or other activities. Should be a great challenge for me and our committee.
Another event that occurred recently was the bidding on Sloan classes. In order to take a class at Sloan you are given 1000 points with which to bid on your classes. I took all of my points and bid for a class called G-lab. For an article on G-lab you can go to http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/global-0315.html to check it out. I'm psyched to let you all know that I got lucky and got in! (out of 24 or so LFMers that wanted to take the class only 16 were allowed - let's hope that they all can take it after the waitlist round). Can't wait to see what kind of projects we'll be working on! Definitely come back and find out.
Well, I think that I've been slacking off enough now. Time to get back to that Leadership paper.
More later...
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Weekend Recovery
Alicia and I went to Chicago this past weekend. Went out to go to a wedding of one of Alicia's best friends. Left Friday afternoon and returned Sunday night (delayed due to weather). It was a great relaxing weekend and I did very little homework. This hit pretty hard however when I got back and was behind in every class. That's the trouble with going out of town for the weekend, you get behind in everything. I am heading out of town for the next two weekends (to visit my grandmother and then to go to my college roommate's wedding) so I am getting a little nervous about how far behind I will be after that. Even so, you can't not have fun while being here. Went to an LFM dinner party last night that lasted late into the night. I'm definitely hurting this morning during class. Planning to go out to the Muddy (The Muddy Charles - an on-campus MIT bar) tonight as well. The life of a college student...though it is a bit different this time around.
More later....
More later....
Friday, July 13, 2007
Axcelis Follow-up
The Axcelis plant tour was an interesting field trip. We took a tour through their 10K clean room (yes, we got to dress up in the visitor blue jump suits with hair nets, gloves and booties). The 10K designates the cleanliness of the room based on the number of "particles" per cubic foot. This facility had 100, 1000, 10,000, and 100,000 designated clean rooms. They also showed us a sample of their product on a test stand. Very cool to see this completely new (to me, that is) technology. The whole facility was impressive to see after working in the Detroit auto-industry. I just couldn't believe how clean everything was. Clean rooms and gowns for everyone.
And one more follow-up: after my PSA of backing your stuff up ALWAYS, I finally finished my previously deleted mid-term - over 10 hours of work for a three question problem set. Finally done.
Off to Chicago for a wedding this weekend. Lots of catchup reading to do on the plane.
More later...
And one more follow-up: after my PSA of backing your stuff up ALWAYS, I finally finished my previously deleted mid-term - over 10 hours of work for a three question problem set. Finally done.
Off to Chicago for a wedding this weekend. Lots of catchup reading to do on the plane.
More later...
Thursday, July 12, 2007
I'm hatin' on my computer today
SO, last night my computer "selectively" deleted my Systems Optimization Mid-Term. I say selectively because my Mid-term document was the only thing missing from my computer. After talking to customer support, campus IS&T and others, I have not been able to figure out why this happened or where my mid-term is. 4.5 hours down the drain and now I have to redo the whole thing. Let this be a lesson to you all. When you have a really important document, E-MAIL it to yourself, save it to a jump drive, cd, floppy or whatever. Back it up. Period.
Other than that, the LFMers are heading out to Axcelis for our first plant tour today. Will fill you in on how it goes.
Other than that, the LFMers are heading out to Axcelis for our first plant tour today. Will fill you in on how it goes.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Welcome to my blog...
Hello everyone! I just wanted to welcome you to the first of many posts on my new blog.
First off, I'd like to introduce myself. I have just moved to Cambridge, MA with my girlfriend, Alicia, and three cats, Greigh, Peek-a-boo, and Aura (who is only about 2.5 months old). We moved into our place and have been busy moving in and adjusting (re-adjusting in my case) to Cambridge and the Boston area. There is a stark contrast between Detroit and Boston, with a HEAVY bias on our parts towards the latter. We have been having a great time living in the city and checking out all that Boston and the local area has to offer.
I've now been a student at the MIT Leaders For Manufacturing program since June of this year and it has been flying by. We are already working on our summer mid-terms! Speaking of, I think that it might be time to get back to work. More later....
First off, I'd like to introduce myself. I have just moved to Cambridge, MA with my girlfriend, Alicia, and three cats, Greigh, Peek-a-boo, and Aura (who is only about 2.5 months old). We moved into our place and have been busy moving in and adjusting (re-adjusting in my case) to Cambridge and the Boston area. There is a stark contrast between Detroit and Boston, with a HEAVY bias on our parts towards the latter. We have been having a great time living in the city and checking out all that Boston and the local area has to offer.
I've now been a student at the MIT Leaders For Manufacturing program since June of this year and it has been flying by. We are already working on our summer mid-terms! Speaking of, I think that it might be time to get back to work. More later....
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