Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring is up there with The Matrix and Star Wars, movies that are definitely worth seeing more than once on the big screen. J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece has now been successfully transferred to cinema format. The casting is brilliant, the special effects outstanding, and the costumes and makeup definitely have my pick for this year's Oscar. Folks who haven't read the LOTR trilogy may be disappointed by the ending to the film. Several subplots are only beginning to emerge, and of course the main adventure is far from over at the end of book one. Honestly though, I never actually read books 2 and 3 of the trilogy. Hopefully I'll be able to spare a few hours from my MBA studies over the coming months, and at least finish The Two Towers before the movie version comes out next Christmas.

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Went to the St Kilda post office this afternoon to send off some birthday presents (yes, people "do" have birthdays around this time of year). Everything was so quiet. No queues. No stressed postal workers. Amazing relaxing. It all felt quite surreal, kind of like the lull before the storm, as such.

I don't have many Christmas traditions. Having lived in 3 different Australian cities, and with parents that separated when I was pretty young, my Christmas experiences have varied somewhat over the years. This year I'm spending Christmas in Melbourne with my father's side of the family, my mother will be in Bali, my step-father in Jakarta, and my sister in Florida, so we're definitely all over the place.

I'll have to wait at least another year before I can experience a Melbourne NYE though - I'll be heading up to Sydney later in the week for a few parties, some golf, and even a bit of camping. New Year's Eve in Sydney is always a huge event. I've normally avoided the big nightclub events like mobilehome, and instead either hosted or attended house parties on or around the harbour. This year, I think I'll be in Kirribilli somewhere ... still to be confirmed.

Another one to check out: Robot Sushi

Cool web site. Robot Sushi is a small sushi restaurant in the Melbourne CBD. I'll have to check it out sometime.

Restaurant Review: The Point

The Point is situated right on the lake in Albert Park. Floor to ceiling windows and a backdrop of the lake ensure a spectacular view, and the modern Australian food equally brilliant. Mains range from around $25 - $33, with entrees in the mid-teens. For those not quite so hungry there are also some interesting appetizers at around $7 - $8 each. The service is impeccable, with consistent wine refills and a friendly smile. Licensed only, the restaurant's drinks list is extensive, with mostly Australian wines, a taste of France, and a good variety of Scottish whiskys. There's also a cafe in The Point complex with cheaper meals, and a fine range of cigars available. Check out the link to The Point's website at Citysearch for an IPIX view of the restaurant.

Adrian's tip: Book yourself in for a dinner at The Point over sunset this summer. It's worth every dollar.

schoolfriends.com.au

I've been registered on schoolfriends.com.au for a couple of months now, and have been successful in catching up with one former classmate from my junior high school back in Darwin. The concept behind this site is great, but it's suffering from a lack of volume, which in turn is probably due to a lack of marketing. For a service that's free to the consumer, there's probably very few $$$ available for marketing though. My solution - marketing postcards. They're a great conversation starter. People could pick them up in cafes, reminisce with their friends over coffee, and then go home and register... (the b-school brain is already starting to tick)

Closure

3 months since my retrenchment, and I'm still waiting for my final expense claim to be paid. I should start charging interest.

Redundant Ansett workers were finally given their pay-outs this week, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much (considering I received my main payment the day after I was retrenched). In a depressed business environment, we should all be content with the fact that "these things take time." ;-)

Update (22/12):My expense claim came through this morning. I'm free !!

MBSees' Cafe

The MBSees' Cafe at mbsnow.com is an independant website maintained by an alumnus of the Melbourne Business School. It lists the personal web pages of several students and alumni, and even a few academics. Might prove to be a useful resource in the coming months.

Time for an infrastructure upgrade

With my MBA studies commencing next month, I'll be needing a new laptop PC. My previous laptop was a Dell Latitude PIII-600, an average machine that I had to give back to Dimension Data when I was retrenched. Over the years I've had laptops from Compaq, IBM, and Dell. The IBM Thinkpads are the most reliable by a long shot. Unfortunately, they're also quite expensive. The IBM Thinkpad: R Series seem to provide pretty good value for money - there's a PIII 1.0GHz / 128Mb / 30 Gb / DVD-ROM with built-in modem and networking and Windows XP for $3999 available on the IBM website.

If anyone out there has used the R Series, can you please send me your war stories. I'm planning to make my purchase in early January.

Japanese?

In my ongoing effort to move away from being a techo, and becoming a well-rounded businessperson, I have recently taken up Japanese language classes at the CAE. We're working from the text Japanese for Everyone, and I must admit, I'm really enjoying it. My pronounciation is still pretty shocking, and my vocabulary is still limited to the basics like introducing myself, counting, shopping, and ordering food. I've been studying in intensive mode this month (2 x 3hr classes a week), and will switch to a reduced pace when I start my MBA. Still, it'll be an interesting challenge taking on five MBA subjects and a language simultaneously.

End of 2001 Update

A few interesting events have transpired since I last updated my blog. Sincere and deep apologies to the readers out there whom I've kept in the dark these past three months. I've been going through a bit of a rough patch, but things are starting to seem a lot more positive now.

First and foremost - some news that most friends and family would already know. My recent post "Ten Signs Your Job is in Danger" couldn't have been more timely. On September 20th, just nine days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, I found myself caught in that wrong place/wrong time phenomenon called retrenchment. My innings was over after four years and nineteen days with Com Tech / Dimension Data. I received a cheque equivalent to about six months pay (after tax), and was supervised as I packed my desk and left the building. Not the farewell that I would have planned, but a harsh realisation of reality. Fortunately I was not alone - 144 employees were slashed off the payroll in a single day, including several of my friends and close colleagues.

Now the dilemma. My career plan had been to work for Com Tech for around five years, then head to the States to do my MBA, most probably commencing in the fall of 2003. Should I find another IT company to work for in Australia for a year or two, and continue with my US MBA plans, or consider the Australian MBA market for a degree starting as soon as possible. The economy was (and still is) pretty dismal, the employment market is far from brilliant. I would be unlikely to find a job as enjoyable and financially rewarding as the deal I had with Com Tech.

I spoke extensively with friends and family about the issue, and for a while started pursuing both options, applying for jobs and working on applications for Melbourne Business School and the AGSM. I flew to Sydney in October to get my MBA referee reports completed and meet up with some of my former colleagues. During my time in Sydney, I had a revelation - my retrenchment was not a setback, it was an opportunity - I could accelerate my career change ambitions, start the MBA almost straight away (the top Australian schools start their MBA programs in January), and re-emerge in a new profession as the economy was recovering in 2003.

I completed applications to both Melbourne Business School (located in Carlton, Melbourne) and the Australian Graduate School of Management (at my undergraduate UNSW campus in Kensington, Sydney), a grueling process in itself, that I'll hopefully write about sometime soon. While waiting for my application results, I fulfilled some of my travel bug ambitions, taking in Bali, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hong Kong. Upon return to Melbourne in late November, I was honoured with the news of been accepted to both schools.

Final result - I'm signed up to start my MBA full-time at Melbourne Business School in January!

In light of this change in direction in my life, I've renamed my blog to "Doing the Melbourne thing." I haven't made firm plans for how the blog will be structured in the coming months, but I would like to keep the focus on things MBA-related. I'll try to convey the Melbourne Business School experience to you, and let you in on some of the quirky and interesting details of the program. It's a tough program - I'll be doing 20 subjects in just 16 months with very few little time for travel or outside activities, but I'm certain that it's the right thing for me to do at this stage in my life, and that it'll be an incredibly rewarding experience.

It's great to be back!