My First 10K

Ran my first 10k today. Did a nice first 5 miles in 55 minutes and then in an exhausted state walked the rest (1.55 miles) to bring it to a total of 77 minutes for 6.5 miles. Calorie count 1002 burned. But i feel good, exhilarated!

making adjustments to my 10K (i.e. 6.25 actual miles) that should have set me at 55+18.33 = 73.33 minutes or 1 hour and 13 minutes approximately. That means my average speed was 5.11 MPH (i.e. 60 x 6.25 / 73.33). Not bad for a first timer!

Running

4 Miles, 40.30 minutes...weight down to 195.2 .. lets see how far i can continue to carry this :)

Running update

what a beautiful warm day outside, or so i thought as i was making a decision to slack off and not run today. And then it happened, 5 miles, 56 minutes for a 198lb guy.. not bad at all. im ecstatic

Running

Been running for the past two months, got my fat ass finally doing around 4 miles @5.5mph. It feels good, I wonder if
a) i can keep up the discpline of running 2-4 times a week and
b) manage to get up to 13 miles by november so i can participate in a half marathon

Hmm... lets see

Sopranos

someone has too much time on their hands and copied every swear word from every sopranos episode.



the sopranos, uncensored. from victor solomon on Vimeo.

Back without you

I've just dropped you off at the airport and walked back into the house with a cup of coffee in my hands...my heart feels empty and achy, even though I know you're gone only for a week, I guess I'll have to get used to not seeing you at home on the weekday evenings now.. i hate that feeling, you are a part of me, and I don't like it when a part of me is gone..even temporarily. The weekend can't come fast enough so I can be laughing with you and doting on you :)

Happy Birthday

You would have been 71 today, and me? sitting by your side laughing over that proverbial beer. I miss you.

AC DC Concert Nov 13th

I was there...WOW..nuff said (the video below is not mine, but someone elses i found on youtube...they had way better seats than i did)

Complexities

This life, one shot, one deal,
and I'm still trying to work through it.
Not sure i understand its meaning,
and certainly not my fit.

A lonely road or the beaten path,
familial obligations arise.
Have we forgotten those who have passed?
Or am i caught up in their demise?


You as a companion of whom I seek more,
always here, a partner true.
Nothing shall i ever ignore,
ride off in the sunset with you.

The madness that is life

I've spent the last two plus months with extended family in town and they continue to be here. Its been exceptionally hard on me (and im sure my wife as well) given that we are so culturally different and htat my mom and her parents are just, well..different. The crazy combination of this nitro-and-glycerine mix along with the restrictions that i personally have to face due to a conservative family is a daunting one. We've had a few unpleasant evenings about this, discussing in our bedroom how we want things to work, each of us with a different perspective and me, feeling terribly unwanted given the language switches and the fact that a certain father-in-law has no room for improvement...its hard on both of us.

Wife's been great this weekend with giving me my space, but I wonder how long this madness will last before it does some permanent damage to our relationship. I'm all for family, hosting and being there for them, or am I? At a junction of your life when you want to take a step back and ponder over what works for you? Is is family values whereby you are forced to deal with people and their eccentricities, or is it yourself, where the madness REALLY begins? As usual, my wandering through life with no real answers.

One thing I do know.. I love her dearly and hate it when shes upset about anything, anything at all. I try very hard to make sure shes happy even if sometimes its a little bit of an inconvenience to me, just to see her smile makes it all worth it. In case there's any doubt in your mind, I'm talking about my wife, so don't let your mind fall into the gutter. This ones for us, to see us through the good times, those grey moments and those especially dark ones involving family, this ones for us sticking it out in the long run and making it work as a team.

deal of the century perhaps

Wanna Save $884,275.01 on an Intel Processor, apparently buy.com thinks so.. ..

George Carlin

Saw it on the news late last night..RIP George Carlin, thank you for making me laugh and think about materialism every time I heard your standup act...

The bucket list

Wife wasnt doing well this week, so we've been renting movies @ home. Just saw "The bucket list" as it was released on DVD today, what a super movie. Reminded me of a certain someone who passed away with cancer, and how he was robbed of his opportunity to make his bucket list.

Here's my 5 minute bucket list (i suppose this will keep growing as I think things through):

• Skydive Once -- This scares the crap out of me (acrophobia)
• Take a trip to Italy (Rome, Tuscany) with my wife, she's always wanted to do this and I derive a lot of my happiness from here
• Help pay for my neices education (perhaps leave her some money to help do this)
• Drive a nascar / F1 car on the track (need for speed!)
• Participate in a life changing activity (by this I mean community service, helping provide vocational guidance to poor kids/families)
• Hit a pub in England, have a pint of some real bitter and some english pub food
• Go to a English Premier League football game
• Meet Sachin Tendulkar (even if it is to just shake hands and say "Hey, I'm awestruck by your ability in the game")
• Watch the Philadelphia Eagles win one Superbowl (well even if im not around to see it, it will be worth hearing the news) -- Update: even if i'm not around, put some flowers on my grave and a picture of swoop / the vince lombardi trophy.. it will make me smile wherever i am :)
  

Graduation Ad in the WSJ Paper

The university finally put the ad out, here goes:

A myth called reality, shadows that hide the face,
mine, is but another one, no differentiator.
Hiding behind that glass, what you see is not always what you get
unless you are that inner circle, i'm watching out, for that inner circle

Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman

Wow what a weekend. Drove up with my wife to cornell to attend the graduation ceremony. Finally done with two years of anguish going thru my MBA. It was so worth it. Photo below with some good friends and their families.

The Light at the end of the tunnel

i'm now faced with a new problem.. i need something to worry about because the last two years of my life have been a partial living hell between the MBA, Work and everything important in life..

P is happy im finally done and frankly so am i. i now have the ability to not be distracted in conversations with her anymore wondering about what paper i have due next...and i promise to make it up to her for being such a great pillar of support while i faced some trying times....

Done with the MBA

Saturday was the final day doing our private equity presentations. Was too tired to deal with much of any drinking when we were done. Ended up on the rented bus that rode us down to NYC. Started off at a pub called Kanvas and it was kinda empty. At this point Joe suggested that we head down to Copper Chimney for an Indian dinner and some Taj Mahal beers. Best suggestion ever. Returned from dinner to meet Martin @ the Cookhouse. Martin and I (with the rest of the school gang) ended up at a club called Lotus. very nice place but way overcrowded for my suburban ass.

all in all, im glad im done. its been two brutal years and my wife has been more than understanding letting me get away with it..thanks babe

End of the MBA ?

the program has almost ended. we have one more weekend session to go and we're home free. of course this is going to be difficult as its the private equity project and requires a huge write-up. that said, our management simulation ended and the professor sent out some thoughts about running a company. thought i'd share with the readers (???)

• Danger of group think – need to think “out of the box” (seek “diversity” – break “Not Invented Here” syndrome) – someone needs to challenge the “status quo” with respect to strategy and tactics

• Note the shifting that occurred in your team discussions over time of energies and focus from “us” to “them” and how them affects our in-place strategy (dynamic strategizing)

• Power of keyboard control – you need to be concerned and work on sharing the sense of control with co-managers

• Importance of recognizing small victories in difficult times (e.g. – getting to positive cash flows from operations, positive operating income, etc)

• You don’t have to “kill” the competition – if you do a good job creating and executing a fundamental strategy (with dynamic adjustments), the competition will fall by the wayside (or at least have limited success). Years ago the Boston Consulting Group introduced the notion that only 2-3 firms can compete over the long run in a given market. While the definition of market is crucial to this concept, it is widely believed to be operative. Jack Welch lived by it.

• Importance of taking calculated risk – winners take risks – but don’t bet the firm unless there is no viable alternative. If the equity is effectively gone, management might as well make negative expected NPV bets as long as they can get their hands on other people’s money. This is why most loans have restrictive covenants – constraints that keep such agency issues at bay.

• You can make good money in mature markets – being new doesn’t always equate to best profit opportunity. One of the best firms was solely in "PROD-X" at the end.

• Economies of scale in R&D – getting the most bang (volume) for your buck (spent dollars that produce saleable products in many markets). Especially in Y and Z, which took large R&D investments each year to remain competitive, being able to sell those products in the EAST, WEST and EC spread those R&D costs over greater volume – making it easier to compete on price as well as quality.

the past week

wow what a week.. between the crisis at work, trip and promo presentation to the partners in boston, catching up with E out there, the return to NYC, boys night out in NYC and finally back into class -- im exhausted.

its sad to know that a lot of people from class will turn into strangers soon, and some will continue to stay close to me. i guess that as i have started to know people better, i've liked them less for their attitudes, behavior and generally lack of any forseeable commonalities in friendship that we may have.

back to boston: nervous as heck while practising my presentation in front of the mirror, but it eventually went well. managed to get some feedback from my mentor and it suggested that things were okay, im happy.. im not the best presenter, but i think the practising helped me this time. it pays to know every slide on your deck!

the evening was equally good, met up with E at the Oak bar inside of the Fairmont Copley and then on to Cleary's for dinner/sandwiches. what a fun evening, even Juan (an old colleague who has since quit the firm) managed to join us for the first part of the evening.

and now.. back in class, its 4.10 pm and im worn out; the team wants to drink tonight but i dont have it in me, im too tired!!!!!