New York resources: nycwireless.net

A New Yorker on my MBA course here in Melbourne was telling me about coffee shops in Manhattan that offered free wireless Internet access (Build it and they will come). nycwireless.net is an initiative to provide free wireless access to the public, which is fantastic news for me since I'll need a wireless card on my laptop to access the network at Columbia.

"NYCwireless provides free wireless Internet service using wireless technology to mobile users in public spaces throughout the New York City metropolitan area. These public spaces include parks, coffee shops, and building lobbies. NYCwireless intends to work with public and other nonprofit organizations to bring broadband wireless Internet to under-served communities"

Faux pas

I can't believe I used the <u></u> tag in that last post. Underlining is supposed to be strictly reserved for linking (evening if one doesn't usually use underlines on their links). Deepest apologies to all the web designers/developers out there. I won't do it again.

Y2K problems @ Columbia

I rang up the Columbia Housing Service this morning to check up on my application, and received an automated response after logging in with my applicant ID: "Your housing application has been approved by your school. We are currently in the process of allocating you accommodation based on the preferences you indicated in your application. If you have not received an allocation by July ... fifth ... nineteen ... two, please contact us directly."

CBS have a wireless network, but they can't even fix a simple Y2K issue in their IVR system. Oh dear. You know what - I bet they don't even know about the problem. I'll be a good netizen and let them know ;-)

Proof that I.T. people can be popular: Peter ended up winning Big Brother

Hmmm ... why am I trying to defend my former industry? ...

And who wants to be cured of desire?

My friend Kate has started a weblog!

So far, it's a commentry on her perspectives on coffee, alcohol, and the retro movement, but I'm certain she has more in store for us. Will this be an avenue for publishing her poetry and song lyrics? Will she tell us all about what she does for a living? Will it be an insider's view of life in inner-city Sydney? Or a diatribe on travel experiences in remote parts of the world. Only time will tell...

In her own words:

"Welcome to my corner of the internet... As someone who has sub-consciously avoided the HOME page concept, it's a big step for me. Not that I'm technophobic, I just have a feeling that publishing oneself without purpose is the worst form of narcissism.

So this has a purpose - I will hasten to inform the world once it gels into something I can explain in words... In the meantime, it will just be what I think about." (Kate - sundayafternoon.blogspot.com)

Up to date

I think that brings us pretty much up to date. Apologies for the lack of posts in the past week - I've been absolutely swamped with study commitments. I spent 62 hours at b-school last week, plus another dozen or so hours studying at home. I have an Economics exam and a Law presentation tomorrow (Tuesday), and a big Finance exam on Friday. That will conclude the first 'half' of the term, so I'll have a few drinks on Friday night to celebrate, and then head up to Sydney to see some friends on the weekend. From next Monday though, I'll be absolutely flat out until my final exam on August 22nd. Here's hoping I make it through it all. If I don't post for a few days, please send me an email or two to check that I'm okay...

Coincidence

I met a girl yesterday who had 1) grown up in Darwin, 2) went to the same high school as me, 3) had spent five years in Jakarta, and 4) was now living in Melbourne. Bizarre conversation - just like talking to myself in the mirror - only she's much more pretty to look at.

BTW - for those of you who are a bit confused - I've never actually lived in Jakarta, but my folks have been there for the past six years, and I visit at least once a year, so I'm reasonably familiar with the place by now.

Ghost town

MBS differentiates itself from the rest of the University of Melbourne establishment by managing to fit three academic terms into the calendar year rather than the usual two.

As a result, our holiday periods (with the exception of four weeks at Christmas / New Year) do not overlap. In Eurodisney style, for the next few weeks the students at MBS will have the entire campus to themselves. The cafes, sports facilities, and libraries are all open, but they're barely being used. I spent the majority of my Sunday in the law library (sorry ... Legal Resource Centre ;-), a massive establishment with three levels and study space for maybe 400 students, but over the space of six hours there were probably only 30 people who visited, at least a dozen of which were from MBS.

P.S. Don't worry - it's not normal for me to spend my Sundays hidden away in the law library - we're in the middle of mid-term exams at the moment, so there's an immediate need to cram...

ProductProject Management

This term at MBS I was planning to take a marketing course titled Product Management run by a visiting professor from the United States by the name of Debi Mishra. Unfortunately, he's fallen very ill (i.e. spending the American summer in hospital) and, as such, has not been able to fly to Melbourne to run the course. Apparently, according to the powers that be with MBS, there's no one within the school (or indeed, within Australia) qualified to run an MBA course in Product Management, and as such, the school's had to cancel the subject.

This puts me in a difficult position. Since we're already six weeks into the term, I can only choose a replacement subject from the handful of intensive subjects on offer during the second half of the term. My choices:

• Marketing in Asia
  
• Negotiations
  
• Channels of Distribution
  
• Project Management
  
• Organisation Design

"Normally" I would ave chosen Channels of Distribution (another marketing subject) instead, as it was my second preference after Product Management when I was originally selecting my electives. However, thise course was also going to be conducted by Debi Mishra, and is now being run by Richard Speed, my professor for Marketing Management from term 1. In a creative and occassionally abstract discipline like marketing, I believe it is important to leverage off the experiences and insights of as many professors as possible. As such, while Channels would probably be a brilliant course, I don't want to do it with Richard Speed.

So ... I'm going to switch to Project Management (drop the "du", insert a "j" and an "e"). The professor, Paul Adler, is meant to be brilliant, it's an area in which I have some experience, so I'll be able to contribute to the class, and it finishes about a week before I fly out to NZ/NY.

One caveat: it's run in superintensive mode - I'll be giving up my Tuesday and Thursday evenings AND my Saturday mornings for a period of five weeks - and that's just the class time - there's also three HBS cases to prepare each week. Aaaaghhh, when will this all end?!?

Inspiration

For the first time this term, I went into uni yesterday without my laptop, and I ended up writing several posts on paper...