The Open Sky

The September evenings were always beautiful. Sublime weather; the sky clear blue with not a single spot of cloud in it, the mild northwest wind blowing in our face, and the distant sun planning to take its customary dip in the western horizon. We spent most of those evenings in our roof flying kites, and watching strangers walk in the street in front of our house. I would usually get the kites up in the sky (the toughest part) and then hand the lattai over to my brother. I would watch him maneuver the big wooden lattai in his hand with utter carefulness, desperately trying to keep the lively kite afloat. I would yell some instructions if he ever had a hard time comprehending the sudden turns and plunges of our patched up kite. The rest of the time I would just sit there, staring at the clear blue sky and thinking about random stuff. I was about twelve back then.

I have always loved nothingness. Staring at the nothingness on top of me and trying to fathom its depth with my eyes while thinking of random stuff was one of my hobbies. Isn't this weird? As I have already mentioned in an earlier post, even now I stare at nothing blank screens. This probably explains why I have never fallen in love with patterns and why I haven’t ever been good at art. However, I don't know why I have a strange affinity for nothingness. I must be weird or very simple or both!

On a side note, it snowed once again here today. It's a mess outside. I miss my open sky.

Who doesn't love free Stuff?

Like a lot of other schools, my school is a haven for free stuff. There is always some kind of an event going on, and there is always something you can grab for free. Recruiting events, Information sessions, you name it! Each gathering has something free to offer. Two of the most popular free items are Pizza and T-Shirts. You can get those everywhere, every night. You just need to know where to look. Having a good distribution of friends in different departments around campus definitely helps. Between us friends (some who code in the dungeons of the CS department, some who play with wires in engineering, and us who frequent the business school), we manage to cover most of our campus. Whenever somebody knows about something going on, they put their cell phone skills to action and everyone is there.

The big events (like the ones organized by Microsoft, Disney or the big 4) are cool because you usually don’t need to RSVP. They always have good food, great goodies, and fun games. The events looking for sales people (for security systems, fertilizers, satellites etc.) are a bit of a drag because they try to convince you to go to weird places to sell their stuff. I don't understand why they can't see that most of the people there are only interested in the free food. Nonetheless, they have pretty good food and we usually don’t hang around for their presentations anyway so it is not too bad. The department events on the other hand are the ones that I hate the most. Although, the food is always very good and there is a lot less people, you have to stay for their presentations. You just can’t leave. They are boring and time consuming. I should be ashamed to say that I have attended more Information Systems events than accounting events. They always have the better pizza and it is easy for me to leave because no one really knows me.

I was looking at my closet yesterday and realized that 80% of the T-Shirts that I have are free ones. In fact, I am wearing a free one right now. This one says Price Waterhouse Coopers on it. It’s not just the T-Shirts though; I also have a Deloitte laptop bag, numerous pens, a PWC water bottle that I use, a KPMG planner and the list just goes on. It isn’t any different with my roommates. They are probably better off than I am with regards to the free stuff that they have. Seriously, the volume of free stuff that has accumulated at our apartment is preposterous. We probably have everything that has been given out for free on campus in the past couple of years. No, really. From a Microsoft puzzle to a football that reads enterprise-rent-a-car to E&Y Frisbees, we have everything. It is in fact hard to find junk that we have actually paid for.

I love college!

Spaced Out!?

Does anyone remember the movie Office Space? I am convinced that it is the funniest workplace related movie ever made. The reason why I bring this up is that I remembered a conversation from that movie at work. I went to IMDB, made a couple of searches, and sure enough I found that conversation. Here is how it goes:

Bob Slydell: You see, what we're actually trying to do here is, we're trying to get a feel for how people spend their day at work... so, if you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Bob Slydell: Great.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work

At the moment when I remembered this conversation, I had been staring at my screen which had nothing on it, for at least a couple of minutes. I was definitely not sleeping because I knew what was going on around me. But for those two minutes, for some reason, I was fixated on that blank white tab of Firefox. I guess I "spaced out." I feel a little bit guilty because I am not actually supposed to be doing that at work. Does that mean I have to start blogging more at work so that I don't space out again!?

The Apprentice season 6 (so far)

The season started off slowly and I was skeptic about a lot of things. I wondered how the show would survive without George and Carolyn. I hated the whole concept of the losing team living outside on camp. Is Trump looking for an apprentice or a survivor!? I thought that letting the winning PM continue to be the PM was kind of lame. How were we supposed to know the other people? But Trump being Trump has somehow pulled it off. The season has suddenly become intensely exciting and fun. This season might actually turn out to be better than any of the previous ones.

I guess I did not realize initially that Trump is the real star of the show. None of the sideshows matter as long as he is there, not even the candidates. I am positive that the show will be interesting even if it’s you or me by his side. That is why he has been able to switch between Randall, Bill, Sean and Ibanca without hurting the show too much. Has anyone actually missed George or Carolyn this season?

I think that the show made some right decisions at right times. After episode 2 or 3 they began focusing more on the tasks and the boardroom, and less on the hardships of the losers living on camp. They have been so much better off. Those segments of the show were such a drag. I am sure that no one really cared whether the loosing team had running water or not. Also, I think that the show has been pretty lucky because the same project manager has not won a lot of tasks. Otherwise, having the same PM every week would not be as interesting as how things have turned out.

I can’t wait to see who wins this season. I personally think that it is going to be either Heidi or Stefani but you never know. Anyways, I will be in front of the TV at 9 every Sunday for the next few weeks.

Tables Turned!

The smiling, nodding and pleading days are gone. Recruiting for winter is over and I have ended up with a couple of very good offers. It is the employers, now who are begging me to come to their company. I get at least a call and a couple of emails every day from many of my prospective colleagues telling me why I should join their firm. I am therefore having a hard time deciding which company I want to go with. I guess this is a very good situation to be in.

I have probably done a smart thing by not signing anything yet. I have until March 30^th to decide where I want to go, and it looks like I am going to use every minute of that deadline to decide. This is actually helping my offer amount go up. I just got a call from one of my prospective employers. He added some kind of a bonus in the compensation package. SWEET!

I am glad I go to a good business school.

Madness of March!

I can finally focus on March Madness since exams are over. The tournament just started today but I did not get to taste this year's hype as much as last year. I did fill out my brackets and what not, but the exams kept me away from things. My school plays tonight and it should be a fun game. Hopefully, we will win. They have done well this year but even if they win tonight they are going to be killed on the second game. I am praying for a miraculous upset on the other game.

March Madness is one of the best traditions in America. It rivals the World Cup on the kind of effect it has on people (only in the States of course!). Back home, during the world cup I used to cut out the schedule of the soccer games from a local newspaper, fill my predictions, and put it up in my wall. I had no clue then that millions of other people in the other side of the globe are obsessed with a similar thing but in a different sport. I did not even know that those things you fill out are called brackets. Now I am praying that my bracket will do well this year on ESPN and facebook.

It's amazing where life takes you in a short span of time.

On Sale!

What is it with Americans and sale? I fail to understand why people here seem to pounce on anything that has an "on sale" tag, whether they need it or not. I worked at a Safeway store a couple of summers ago and it was amazing to see how each item cleared the shelves as soon as they went on sale. The change in price was usually irrelevant as opposed to the "on sale" tag. People did not have the slightest idea that the jumbo eggs were $1.14 last week and $1.10 this week. As soon as they saw an "on sale" tag over the eggs they believed that they were saving loads. I am convinced that those "on sale" tags gave those people a sudden urge for those Jumbo eggs regardless of its price. My manager had his sales strategy figured out. He would leave an item on the shelves for a week, and if it did not sell he would just add a tag that said "on sale" on big red letters over the item.

Every nine weeks or so our school does a computer surplus sale where they sell all kinds of computer junk that the school does not need. I work for Treasury Services on campus, and so I have to do the cashiering on these sales. We had one this past week and it was crazy! Between the two of us cashiers, we made a total sale of around forty thousand dollars in 2 hours. Actually, there are some really good deals that you can pick up at these sales. For instance one of my co-workers bought a very nice laptop bag for just five bucks. But there also a lot of useless stuff that you could never use and people still buy it just because it is on sale.

An old person, probably around the age of 65, walked up to the register with a couple of old CDs in his hand and asked me, "Son, how much are these?"

"They are 50 cents each sir."

I noticed that one of the CDs was a driver for an old HP printer, the kind that they never use these days. Just out of curiosity I asked him, "So do you have one of those printers sir?"

"No, I don't even have a computer. I think that my grandson will like it though. He is really into computers, you know!"

What!?

"Does he have one of those printers then?" I was certain at this point that he he had no clue what he was buying.

"I don't know. But this seems to be just too good of a deal to not take. Ring these up please."

I did not even bother to explain him what a driver does and why it will, most likely, be useless. I am sure he could afford to waste a buck. He paid $1.07 (including tax) in total and marched away proudly as if he had just cut a million dollar deal. I wonder how his grandson felt about grandpa's gift.

Astonishing, isn't it? I don't even want to talk about the sale that they have at Malls. I don't think that my writing is good enough to explain how those "sales" affect the lives of most American individuals, especially the ladies out there. Enough said.

Liverpool vs Barca

I just finished watching the match between Barcelona and Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League. I am at work and was lucky enough to watch the game because they showed it on ESPN 360.

"Make sure your nails are long and easily bitten" is what one of the commentators said, and the match certainly did not disappoint. It was a fierce battle with Liverpool holding the upper hand because they had a 2-1 lead from the first game at the Nucamp. I am not a big Liverpool fan or anything but I still wanted the reds to win and so, the last half an hour of the game was very nerve racking. I love Gerrard, and so every time he made a thunderous run with the ball it sent chills down my spine. This was the first time I was watching him after the World Cup so it was very exciting. On the other side the midfield started to play well in the second half. Deco is probably my least favorite player (because of all the dive he takes) but he is a magician with the ball. Every time he or Ronaldinho touched the ball I almost shit my pants. When Ronaldinho hit the post I could see the Reds loosing, and when Gudjhonsen scored I was sure that they were going to blow it. But somehow they managed to hold on, and even though they lost, they were able to progress to the next round by away goal rules. I was relieved!

Oh! and did I mention that Liverpool isn't even my favorite team?

The saddest thing though is that I had to watch this game on a small resized window placed at the top right hand corner of my 14" LCD screen at work. I had to make sure that there were other windows that demonstrated some kind of work related activity (like an excel spreadsheet!) just to make sure that it looked like I was working. I even had to switch to the excel window every time somebody walked in. Small things like this is why I think my life here in the US mediocre. I can't really sit down and enjoy things that I really love, just too many complications. Yes there is more money and better standard of living but the trade offs are huge. I am torn on what to do with my future.