Buffet Quote

When returns on capital are ordinary, an earn more by putting up more record is no great managerial achievement.

College Slaves

My roommate has been writing letters designed to show interest at particular colleges. Even though he doesn't have any question, he asks them anyways so that admission officers get the sense that he really likes their particular school.
Do we really have to slave for these institutions? Are they our last resort? Why colleges and not jobs? WTF?!

It's not a charity but they run it like one.

This is where you want to be. You live and breathe the business not because your wallet is a little fatter at the end of the day but because you would pay to do it. You feel like the activity is meaningful.
Thanks Paul Graham.

LeBron

I loved LeBron. He was DA MAN. Working harder than everybody else, I wanted to be him.
However, after his, "A LeBron Team is never desperate." I have to question my previous choices.
The lack of character demonstrated in that quote makes me upset.
You work with teammates, and as a leader you should be the first to fall and the last to rise.
I really can't admire someone who character isn't this way.

Be Nice to Assholes.

Today, in a most embarrassing manner, AES rejected me from the board. Guided by Foster and Emerson, I tried to make the best of the club, arranging for meeting and trying to become more involved in the investement process. At times, I might have seemed a little too pushy, therefore they decided to cut off probably one of the more passionate investors from a position of influence.
Moral of the Story: Be nice, even if people are assholes. If you are not, you could potentially lose some important positions, jobs, promotions, etc.
People choose who they like, not who necessarily does the best job.
Be both.

By the way, if the entire organization is immersed in asshole structure just quit and do your own gig. It's not worth it having to deal with people of this sort.

Treat me Right King's

I was expecting my large buffalo chicken calzone. I waited and waited for about an hour. By then I called back to find out where it was. I was expecting a simple error, the guy on the phone might have misheard one number.
However, this is not what I got.
He told me how he was a professional at taking orders and how all of a sudden I changed up on him and was screwing him over.
I got angry and thus I will not be ordering from King' ever again.
You could have told me there was a communication error. You could have apologized, and reminded me to speak a little more clearly the next time. If you were to be really good, you would have included a free soda.
But no, you call me an idiot.
Never imply this to your customers. Even if they might be. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Young at Heart

Who said old people can't sing? When we reverse the rules, anything is possible and applying unusual circumstances or unusal people you can create something special and meaningful. So everyone over 70 go ut and sing now, you don;t have to be in a wheel chair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u6k-99qcCE&feature=related

Foundations

Today I go this email from my Chinese teacher:

First, we are going to finish Lesson 23. Then we won't start another book, instead, we are going to review a lot.
Good news is that there won't be any major test. An even better news is that we will still have Ting1xie3 plus oral presentation. The oral presentation takes place of those exams and each of you will be expected to do at least 6 or 7 of it. The topics will cover pretty much everything we learned in fall and winter. What you are also going to do is to improve your handwriting. Don't expect to get a 4 or a higher grade if you can't even write your name in Chinese...
I will help you through some basic grammars.
There won't be too many new stuff to learn while I believe a better foundation is better than tons of new knowledge for you at this moment.

This is exactly what language programs in he USA need to teach. Strong overlearned foundations so that all the basic stuff sticks real well. When you travel to a foreign country, what you want to do is communicate in the most simple way. You do not need all those ridiculous subjunctive tenses. Trust me I speak Spanish. You only need to know what you would actually really want to say.

Small = Big

Small things equal big things. The right handshake. That humble smile. The small things all add up. Once in a while, all those small things add up to a world of change. This article in the Washington Post details how a little shave off the printer margins can save scores of trees. This is what life is about these small improvements that bring about those huge results.

On Seth's Godin Placebo Affect

This weekend while I skied at Stratton I genuinely thought lines moved faster because they told us their lines were the fastest in the nation. That they could be better than other resorts. Sometimes saying things actually makes customers appreciate the experience around them. Don't try to let customers discover things for themselves, show them.

However don't say something without being able to back it up. If the lines at Stratton happened to be long, I would have been angry at them relative to other experiences.

Blind Beliefs

While watching the Superbowl many of the kids in my dorm just knew the Patriots were going to win. They didn't.

There's always a possibility, disregarding it means you fall from great heights, possibly never come up again.

Always believe you can get back up on your feet. That's what it's all about.

It ain't over till it's over...

The Giants won the Superbowl. Unexpected, surreal for some. Nightmare for others.

There is always one game that counts. The last one. You can always get there like the Braves, however 10 years from their accomplishments many of us forget how good they were because the Yankees took the trophy home. To win, is to win the last one, not everything before that.

On another note, wagering on the Giants was an awesome idea with the odds stacked again. Especially when there's a 14 pt spread.

The Importance of Cream Cheese

Today, Microcredit Initiative held another Perfecto's. Even though all went well, for the sake of margins we did not get cream cheese. This might not sound like a big deal, but protesters were vocal and not only did they not buy a bagel, they gave us some bad rep too.

Lesson: Keep the customer happy, because it's better to slim down profits by a percent or two instead of losing actual customers and potential others forever.

Results: $54 dollars in profits, $5o dollar cost, 8 bagels not sold.

Why Blog?

I asked myself the same question when I finally decided to post after having a page. Initially I had gotten a bug, "I had to learn CSS" and read on design, went through tutorials and in the end I never got on to posting.

Today I see myself forgetting my last moves, the struggles, successes and failures. I feel the need to actually embody my idles, instead of just reading their writings, in addition to record my progress and stop talking bs.

Sure, I have an SAT test tomorrow that I could be studying for, I could be reading up on Pride and Prejudice, I could be working on what people ask of me, however I don't see myself following orders in 20 years. I want to carve my path. So I will try to blog.

I begin this with the college application process in mind. I've been bugged with questions like where do I want to go? Do I need to go? Is this what's best for my life?

I hope I answer these questions through my writings, I hope you guys help me see the light. I don't know everything and this blog is most importantly for myself, a diary, that if I'm lucky will be good enough for other to read and enjoy and learn from. 

So it begins.