An enjoyable break in San Francisco

I've just returned from a sensational four-day break in San Francisco! Columbia has a fantastic concept called 'mid-term break' - a full week off from classes while people who were enrolled in half-term subjects do their exams. So, I took the New Jersey transit (train) out to Newark International Airport, and caught a Boeing 737 Super 80 to Chicago and on to San Fran. A big thank you to my good friend Tristen who hosted me for the four days and took me on several outings on the weekend.

Some of the highlights of the trip:

• Dinner amongst entrepreneurs - on the first night I joined a large group for a dinner in San Francisco's financial district - the main topic of conversation: Germany's lack on entrepreneurialism. This was in spite of one of the guests who had bucked the trend and co-founded a dot com in Germany that had reached Euro 10b market-cap during the boom.
  
• Shopping Downtown - picked up some new 501s at Macys and a very cool woollen trenchcoat from Banana Republic - all set for those chilly New York winter days now
  
• A visit to SF MoMA - besides the regular Picasso's, Mondrian's etc, there was an interesting exhibition of the varied works of German artist Gerhard Richter, and some 1850s photography by Lewis Carroll (of Alice in Wonderland fame)
  
• Networking the Bay Area - I met up with a couple of people working in the Bay Area VC industry for some informational interviews - lots of juicy advice and some potential further contacts! One of them even partially restored my faith in career fulfilment in a big firm.
  
• Jack Johnson concert - "Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die / At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eyes" - I went out to UC Berkeley to see Jack Johnson at a very classic open-air greek style ampitheatre.
  
• College Football - saw my first college football game out at Stanford University. Stanford beat Arizona 16-6. This was also my first exposure to the American concept of tailgating, an activity I sincerely hope never takes off in Australia.
  
• World Series - Go Giants! - the Yankees may have failed dismally in the post-season, but the San Francisco Giants made it all the way to the World Series. Games 1 and 2 were held in Anaheim while I was in San Fran, and I had the unique opportunity to watch game one in a San Francisco brewery bar with a bunch of very excited locals. (SF won game one 4-3, the series is currently tied at 1-1). Tickets for games three and four in SF have been selling in secondary markets for up to US$1000.
  
• A hike amongst the redwoods - on Sunday we headed across the Golden Gate bridge (US$5 toll - ouch!) and went for a breathtaking six-mile hike amongst the Californian redwoods at the Muir Woods National Monument. Absolutely beautiful.
  

Back in New York now - taking it easy for a day before classes resume with Advanced Corporate Finance on Wednesday.

US press ignores Australia's pain

[the age 15.10.2002]

"The British press has dubbed the Bali bombings Australia's own September 11.

But in the US, Australia is hardly rating a mention."

So true.

My observation is that the US press only seem to care about world events in the context of how the event affects them. So, the Bali Bombing is just another international bombing that continues to add to the threat of international terrorism and the security of US citizens.

my last five imoods: sad, subdued, sick, tired, annoyed

It's been a tough week ;-( Hopefully I'll be able to cheer up in time for my holiday in San Francisco, which starts on Wednesday.

Business Week B-School rankings

Business Week released their biennial b-school rankings this week. Columbia has held firm at Number 7. Wharton has finally been toppled from Number 1 by Kellogg. Columbia is the second highest-placed b-school available for exchange from Melbourne Business School, only to be surpased by Chicago which came in at Number 2 overall (a significant improvement on their Number 10 ranking from 2000). As usual Harvard had the highest tuition (US$36,770/yr) but only came in second on median pay post-mba (US$134.6K).

Bali Bombing

The Australian ABC seem to have the best online coverage of the Bali Bombing. Our Federal Opposition leader, Simon Crean, has described this as "Australia's blackest day since World War II."

BTW - all my family are present and accounted for.

Tomorrow's news

Hey! That SMH link is from tomorrow's paper. Gotta love the huge time difference between New York and the Australian east coast.

I've always wanted a harbourside apartment in Sydney...

Maybe I'll be able to afford to live at La Corniche one day...

Where every step you'll take is worth $28,500

[smh 13.10.2002]

"When $8.45 million was splashed out for this 294sqm McMahons Point apartment - a staggering $28,547 a square metre - the mystery buyer couldn't stop at one and paid $6.25 million for a second unit in the block.

The record price for what many regard as the country's best apartment, in the boutique development La Corniche on Sydney's lower north shore, smashed the Australian record by $5,500 a square metre."

The rumor seems to be that the mystery buyer is none other than Qantas Ambassador at Large and movie legend John Travolta,

Vegemite for Morons

I'm not a vegemite fan myself, but for those of you who were always interested in what we Aussies do with the stuff, Grudnuk has a complete demonstration.

Are you British?

Upon hearing my accent here in New York, more people have asked me if I'm British than if I'm Australian. Could it be true? If you combine an fair-dinkum Aussie with a post-graduate education, do they get the right to claim mother England as their home?

It would seem the answer is ... almost. For the UK's Highly Skilled Migrant Program (a points-based visa similar to permanent residency in Australia), the MBA is a contributing factor, but I also need to earn a minimum of 40,000 UK pounds in another country for at least a year before I could qualify (easy in the US, challenging in Australia...)

What's in a name?

Kind of related to the previous post, I've been wondering whether javaboy.blogspot.com is still a suitable URL for my blog. Javaboy was a nickname given to me at my pre-MBA company waaaay back in 1996 when I was dabbling with java applets for the company intranet. It hasn't been used recently, and it just confuses people in the online community.

I've set up a placeholder blog at melbournemba.blogspot.com which I may consider switching to if I decide to stick with the MBA theme for the blog in the long-term. Some of you have been suggesting for quite a few years now that I should have my own domain name (adrianhind.com is still available . . . whatever happened to all those cybersquatters? ;-) It all comes down to how I want to brand myself. Who is my target market segment? What is my positioning strategy? Aaarggh! I've been reading too many marketing textbooks.