Summer's coming

Tomorrow is my last exam for Trinity though sadly, not my last MBA exam. This means that I still need to be wearing my pink carnation and have to wait until our September Final before I can wear the red.

SCP Blog
Our class has started a blog to record our summer adventures. We are all doing a project with a company in teams of four during the summer and some of us will be going to exotic places like Slough, India and Paris. Others will be staying in Oxford, enjoying the British summer, punting, drinking Pimms, playing croquet...

Bookmark our SCP News 2006 site to keep up-to-date.

Yahoo! SCP
You will probably have noticed a marked lack of posts about our SCP, that's because I'm trying not to be negative about the whole thing which has turned out to be much more trouble than initially expected. From LOA to Visa issues and everything in between, if there could be a hitch, there was. As it stands, it is unlikely that I will be able to go to California before the beginning of August and I would almost prefer to do a 15 month MBA than continue down this track. Watch this space to find out what happens!

Stockholm
With SCP woes, exam pressures and more 5000 word assignments than you can shake a stick at, I desperately need a break. The plan, should it come off, is to leave my Strategy Implementation exam tomorrow, cross the road and catch the bus to the airport. From there I plan to fly out to Stockholm on the 19:05 plane and spend a week relaxing, playing tennis, watching England beat whoever they're playing in the football and catching up with my friend Johan. Can't wait!

Oriel Commemoration Ball

Every year, four or five of the colleges traditionally put on a white tie ball in 9th week of Trinity. These are very big events and generally an elaborate night to remember. This year, the MBA en masse decided that the Oriel Ball was the one to go to. Oriel College is a beautiful old college which was officially founded in 1326 by King Edward II. Of note, Oriel College was home to scholars such as John Keble, Sir Walter Raleigh, Cecil Rhodes and Samuel Wilberforce.

But, last night, it became transformed into Rome, New York and Delhi. Here is an insight into the night...

We started with dinner at Malmaison.

which used to be an old prison...

Then on to the ball

which rocked

Grace and I got busted

A few of us made it to the survivor photo

which was around breakfast time

then walked home


It was a really good night :)

Update: Here is a link to the Official Survivors photo site

St. Hugh's BBQ

I've been underground for the last week - I had one assignment worth 35% of my grade due on Friday, two worth 50% and 70% due on Monday and one worth 50% of my grade due on Tuesday. Phew. I am now proof that it is possible to only sleep a handful of hours each night for extended periods of time. And that you can get through more work than you thought possible! I think I'll wait a week before reading through what I submitted... or maybe I'll just wait for my grade - yikes!

BBQ
We've had some great experiences over the year visiting friends colleges and eating meals in their beautiful dining halls so a bunch of MBA's at St. Hugh's decided to return the favour. We rented the BBQ outside the MCR, got loads of food delivered and invited 100 or so of our closest friends.

It's funny how things change, yet some things remain the same. Here's a photo that I took at the BBQ yesterday...


Here's one that I took at the MCR BBQ in week 0 of Michaelmas...


I'd like to say that we look older and wiser, but nah, I don't think so. What it does say is that we've made some good friends over the year and I hope that we will manage to stay in touch once this madness is over.

It was a lovely evening...

Exam stress

Here's a little insight into what exams will do to an MBA student...



Of course, Mike had to return the favour...

See Mike warming up followed by Mike leaping.

Filmed in the SBS library. Please do not try this in your own library.

Disclaimer: No library books or MBA students were harmed in the filming of this clip.

Last lecture

Yesterday I had the last lecture of my MBA. It kinda snuck up on me and caught me by surprise. Trinity has gone by so quickly that it seems like it just started and now it's ending.

It's been a nice term, there's a bit of pressure on right now to get a stack of assignments done but by and large, it's been a blast.

The Drum Cafe
One of our classmates from South Africa, had an idea. He wanted us to finish the term on a high note and so, off his own back, arranged for the guys from the Drum Cafe to come in, set up in the amphitheatre, and lead us all through some good old, African style, drumming.


The best bit was right at the end when we drummed up to a crescendo and then everyone started to shout and then we all stopped and yelled "Yeah". What a great stress relief. We will be talking about it for years.

For a fuller experience, watch the video here.

Picture Day

Today we were immortalised as a class in our official photographs. I've told my classmates who are standing around me that they have a responsibility to become great in life. And if not great, then infamous :)


Watch out for these guys!

Sylvester's, punting and more assignments than you can shake a stick at...

Sylvester Awards
After six weeks of preparations and one day of intense practicing, the SBS Annual Sylvester Awards went off without a hitch. Well, with one or two small hitches but none to speak of...


It was a beautifully warm evening and everyone was in good spirits. To name a few, Bonnie won the "Sunshine" award, Marty won the "Girl you would most like to take home with you", Koen the "Catwalk" award and Nikesh won the "Helicopter" award.

As one of the main organisers of the event, I learnt a thing or two about leading. It's a simple thing but we divided the volunteers into groups and gave them broad guidelines of how we wanted the event to run, a task, autonomy to figure out how they were going to approach it and empowered them to make decisions and spend money. The result, great ideas, full participation and a painless, fun filled event.

Punting
My friend Johan came to stay for a couple of days so I decided to take Monday off and show him the sights of Oxford.


We did all the quintesential Oxford things, went cycling, toured Hogwarts, had a pint in the Turf, went punting, looked around my college... it was a beautiful day and loads of fun.



More assignments...
Well, it's the last week of classes on my MBA - for ever! And all of my lecturers have conspired to ensure that my last few weeks here are my busiest yet. I have an assignment due tomorrow (35%), two on Monday (70% & 50%) and one on Tuesday (50%). After that, I still have three more left to complete before the end of week 10.

And I still need to find a job.

Fun stuff!

One of those days

This morning Kirstin, Matt and I boarded the train bound for London. We got there fairly early and frolicked around in Green Park for an hour before heading to our destination - The headquarters of The Economist.

There we were the guinea pigs in a facilited lunchtime discussion with the Board on the online habits of upcoming leaders of tomorrow (my words, not theirs). Interesting. A few key points came out:

• Today's users of the internet are active not passive, this means that they want to be in control, not to sit back and let the news be served to them.
• It became very clear that we were much more online than anyone else in the room
• Ease of use is a very important feature
• We are willing to pay to view, but it must be very easy to use and cheap!

What was it like? A bit surreal. I recognised many of the people there, but unfortunately we didn't get the chance to network with them. Still, it was an awesome experience.

Alan Rusbridger
In the evening, the Editor of the Guardian spoke at the Business School a bit tongue in cheek on the topic "Is it all over for bloggers?". A topic which is obviously on interest to me. I found him a very realistic, likeable man with a good sense of humour.

He started by looking at the question, is it all over for newspapers? and in answering it, had two points.
1. There are commercial issues that face traditional newspapers

• citing the example of Craigslist, he pointed out that much of the small advertising revenue that used to go to newspaper has now been eroded
• in real monetary terms, paid for subscriptions are declining
• internet ads have now overtaken print ads

2. There are editorial implications

• Younger readers don't want to be passive receivers of news - what we were saying in the morning session
• trust is given to people that users know and like

He drew a parallel between the traditional news media and the new media in three areas, expert vs experiential reporting; occasions where the public know more than the journalist e.g. travel guides; and commentary.

This led to his reservations about blogging such as:

• Quality of the comments
• problems of being anonymous - people are more aggressive, sources cannot be reliably checked/trusted
• time issues for readers

He ended by saying that he thought that there was a future for newspapers but it will probably be in a different form from the existing one. I hope that a newspaper like the Guardian makes the cut.

It's (not) the End of the World as we know it...

Or so the makers of the movie "The Omen" would have us believe. Today's date is one of those unique occurrences when the number of the day, month and year are all the same - whether you are in Europe or America, the date is 060606. And if you take out the 0's, you get the number of man three times - 666. Oooh, spooky.

But why? The Bible associates the number 666 with only three men:

• Adonikam: who was a noble sent from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple - not very scary at all
• Solomon: the wisest man in the world. He brought peace and prosperity to the kingdom of Israel during his reign
• The beast: Rev 13:18 reads "This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast (also called the Antichrist), for it is man's number. His number is 666". If you read the rest of the chapter then you get very confused.

Nostradamus also made predictions about three antichrist's:

• Napoleon
• Hitler
• and another to be revealed, supposedly from the middle East (not America) who should be making his appearance... oops! in 1999!

You know what? My philosophies about all this is that when your time is up, your time is up. I am not going to die one minute before or after my time. No sense worrying about it.

So, what do I say? In the immortal words of REM: ♪ ...I feel fine ♫

Go Fug Yourself

I really, really, really had to pass on the link to these hit the nail on the head commentators of modern fashion. Go on, click!

Want a room?

I'm in the unique position where, come July, I will be responsible for not one but two residencies - One in London and one in Oxford! The real problem is that I plan to be in California for the summer so I don't need either room. Hmmm...

So, if you know of someone who is looking for a place to stay from next month, let me know.

London

Male/female wanted to occupy a double bedroom in a modern, fully furnished, fabulous, two bedroom flat • Flat is located in Zone 1, on Kennington road, near to Lambeth North and Kennington tube stations and a short walk from the South Bank • There is a bus that takes you directly to the City and the tube that will take you to the West End • The Imperial War Museum and Kennington Park are very close by and there is a pub called the “Doghouse” that is a great place to hang out at anytime • Flatmate is lovely guy whom I have shared with for many years and about whom I will give a glowing recommendation • Rent is £600 pcm excl and the room will be available mid-July (possibly negotiable) • Happy to consider if you would like the room for longer.

Oxford

Male/female wanted to occupy a single bedroom in a modern, fully furnished, fabulous, four bedroom house • House is located within spitting distance from the Business School and just by some of Oxford’s beautiful canals • There is a pub nearby called the “Honeypot” that is a great place to hang out at anytime • Housemates are all fabulous MBA’s (Johannah, Tim and Scott) who I have shared with for the last year and about whom I will give a glowing recommendation • Rent is £350 pcm excl and the room will be available from the beginning of July for 8 weeks