Musings From Troy

2009-01-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

I'm officially an Alum now.

Abrupt, yet a welcome change.

2008-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

The journey to Wisconsin was long and uneventful. We took the Amtrak from Albany to Chicago. From there we took a bus to Rockford, where Codemonkey's recently graduated brother received us, and drove us to Juda. Yeah, it was long and I slept most of the way.

I have never been on an American farm. So this was a pretty neat experience. I was in rural America, where signboards announced the town as "Monroe, 10843".. the 5 digits representing the population of the town.

I liked what I experienced. Its a different kind of lifestyle. There's electricity and stuff, but its still the countryside.. mostly farmland with homes spread out, dial-up internet at home (one of the problems of being at University is that you take Wireless Internet for granted). Codemonkey's parents were very warm and welcoming.

Since we had planned to arrive on Christmas day, we still had to unwrap our presents. I got a box full of assorted candies.. exactly what I needed. I had made up my mind that throughtout this vacation, there'd be no more self-control and I was gonna gorge on the chocolat.

2008-12-24T21:04:00.000-08:00

My room-mate, Codemonkey's parents invited us over for Christmas and the New Year to Juda, Wisconsin. Unfortunately there was a massive snowstorm and our train was cancelled. We celebrated Christmas Eve in Troy at the United Methodist Church.

I really liked the Church choir music and the nice Christmas feel, especially the angels that adorned the place. I still get to visit Wisconsin as we rebooked our tickets for the 26th.

2008-11-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

I celebrated last year's Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter at MiFi's parents place in Herkimer. Its just wonderful to be treated like family, and I would accept any invite from MiFi! So this year's Thanksgiving was at their place again.

I managed to finally process one of the images I took of MiFi's step-Dad, who, I think, resembles Jack Nicholson.

2008-10-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Yippee, I finally got to wear my Tuxedo. It had been lying untouched since I arrived here last year, and I was delighted that we were finally having a Black Tie Event.

This was the EMPAC's Inaugral Concert. And man were they strict about the dress code. Met two couples from my class, and all we did was enjoy the food and drink, especially the lovely desserts. We then headed to Daisy Bakers in downtown Troy and enjoy our beer.. of course.

2008-10-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

Visited Boston for the Babson Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Babson College. Gorgeous campus though a little far from the rest of Boston. Caught up with KM.. she's always got terrific insight to give so its always fun discussing stuff with her.

Also caught up with Prof Yong-Chul Shin who taught me Accounting in my first year.. one of the classes I enjoyed the most. He had moved to UMass Boston, and it was lovely to see him again. Overall, getting to meet all these wonderful people again had been fabulous.

2008-09-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

Saum's back. It had been ages since we met.

Hit the beach, got to drive his gorgeous Toyota MR2 Spyder, and catch up on life.

2008-09-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Amazing timing that Saum was visiting the East coast just when I was visiting the West. His roomie DV picked me up at the airport and I was absolutely thrilled to be at their sprawling and very inviting apartment.

I was skipping School to attend TC50, but not skipping on assignments.. so basically I've slept very little in the past 4 days.. man what an experience. Imagine a venue that's packed with entrepreneurs.. the place was buzzing with energy on every single day of the conference. And the nights were only for partying.

I think attendance at conferences like these is of tremendous value to wannabe-entrepreneurs like myself. Here's why:

i) Three days at TC50 were the equivalent of Cliff's notes on every entrepreneurship course you wish you'd taken.

ii) Your linkedin account gets populated by the who's who of Silicon Valley. Great people attend that event to find other awesome people.

iii) In addition to the 50 Demopit companies that have been shortlisted after a rigorous selection procedure, there are a host of partners and exhibitors that are scouting for talent.

iv) Watch the Demopit presenters get grilled by the people who first invested in Google, Facebook, and the future of the web. If you're an entrepreneur-in-waiting, attending this event will give you some perspective of what kind of problems you should have thought through before announcing your product to the world.

v) Talk to entrepreneurs like yourself, and discuss how they solved common problems that you will most likely also face.

vi) Accidentally learn about jobs like the Entrepreneur-in-residence: Get paid to be associated with a VC firm, getting ample time to work on your own business idea, and get immediate access to the very people who could potentially fund your big idea.

vii) Practice pitching your ideas to a group of crunched-for-time investors. Actually, practice the art of getting their attention first, like, in one sentence. And reflect on how you can improve it further.

viii) As Bill Kaiser of Greylock Venture Partners remarked "when I hear about a company once, I often ignore it, when I hear about it twice, I pay attention, when I hear about it for the third time, I take a meeting". Make your presence felt. The VCs attending TC50 are a close-knit group. They bump into each other all the time (the camaraderie was evident at the event). It helps if you can bump into them enough times to get their attention (assuming ofcourse that you have a truly great idea).

ix) Meet folks like Martin Obert who showed up at Mike Arrington's door uninvited, made a pitch, and got himself written about on Techcrunch.com, resulting in a million hits on his website. The people attending a TC Conference are a different group of individuals. Get inspired.

x) Get lucky in partnering with the companies at the event. Suggestion Box offered all the demopit companies one year's subscription to their service for free. Entrepreneurs are good people. Be nice to them, and they will be nice to you. But first get connected.

xi) Wake up to a culture other than your own. I'm sure there was representation from a lot more countries other than the US; I met entrepreneurs from Israel, Japan, India, United Kingdom, Mexico, France, Switzerland, Turkey,and Germany.

I think I should move to the Bay Area.

2008-07-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

The thing with Cheeru is that if he's visiting some part of the world, he makes it a point to meet up to the best he can. And that's how Cheeru arrived in Albany.

He was staying at VJ's place. When Cheeru and I lived in Kasturibai Nagar in Chennai, VJ had temporarily made it his home too for the brief while he was in the city. So it was a reunion of sorts.

I also got introduced to AJ. These 3 had been buddies at IITB. Considering that AJ and I went to RPI, if one thinks of the ways in which we were all connected, its mind-boggling.

The plan was to drive to the Niagara Falls, which neither Cheeru nor I had visited before. I had not taken a break in a long while, and the drive to the place was fun. We listened to desi numbers along the way and had some intense discussions on entrepreneurship.

When we finally arrived post noon, it was nice and sunny, and the Canadian side was clearly visible.

I think the 'Maid of the Mist' ride was spectacular, but the 'Cave of the Winds' experience wins hands-down. Cheeru and I sat down with folded feet at this terrific spot to have the water thrash down on us. It was a rejuvenating experience. Heading over to the Hard Rock Cafe for some chilled beer proved to be further refreshing.

Wrapped the evening up with some desi food at one of the scores of desi restaurants at the Falls.

2007-09-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Prof Goldenberg's class was absolute bliss. We spent an entire lecture discussing simple and compound interest. His lecture was interspersed with his very unique sense of humor. The laughter usually follows a while after he's made his point. He even remarked that the Class is a place to practice his art at becoming a stand-up comic. The good thing is that he doesn't believe in teaching what the book encourages - using the calculator. Our session today was entirely on how the numbers are calculated, and not on what the answer is. I was a little impatient because these are the numbers that we've been playing with since the 8th grade. So I observed his style. Its well-paced and it explains the fundamentals. I now have hope that I might actually be able to appreciate Finance once we graduate to topics that intimidate me.

The BIET class was a rage. We had an intense discussion on disruptive innovation, incremental innovation, and radical innovation. Gina kept pushing us to answer Why, How? It got everyone involved. We also had conference calls with 5 guest speakers who're working on possible 'products of the future' and need us MBAs to get involved. These calls went on till 930PM, yet one could sense the enthusiasm as the speakers spoke. It was pure passion at play.

2007-09-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

I got a cool 4hrs of sleep and nearly missed the Severino Interest Group's Breakfast Meet at the Desmond Hotel this morning. Thank God gargling toothpaste gives the same feeling as having brushed. And washing the head with cold water, is almost perfect in making me look like I'd had my bath.

CJ picked me up at a sharp 7AM to drive us to the Desmond. All this while I believed networking is as easy as tying your shoelaces. Well almost. But you gotta practice in the beginning. Entering the room to the inviting company of atleast 25 complete strangers was not what I was prepared for. For the first few people I interacted with, I didn't even know how to begin a conversation. The good thing is, that the other attendees were mostly veterans. So for a change, they did the talking, while I did the nodding. Nevertheless, I still added some more business cards to my collection. I also liked Dean Gautschi's speech explaining why making money is a good thing.

Once back home, a groggy me went about with my Accounting Quiz. These were the longest 12 multiple-choice questions of my life. Our advisor had given us 120mins to attempt it, as a first-time grace period. Most of my class finished it in under 8mins. I took about 20mins. And I'm still not sure if I got them all correct.

2007-09-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

Parkinson's Law states that 'Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion'. From my 3-week experience in the MBA program, I will always have enough work and never enough time. Sundays are meant for sleeping, or chilling out, certainly not studying, that too the entire day.

But this is what I ended up doing. I have an Accounting quiz submission due tomorrow. Plus, I have four chapters of Economics to read, which would be a cool 350+ pages. And I completely forgot the suggested problems from Financial Management Class. Of course the 3000 word HBS articles were only thrown in for bedtime reading, and are mandatory. I'm still figuring out how they selected me for the MBA program when my reading interests are limited to Calvin & Hobbes syndicates. In the past I have attempted reading the Calvin books, but that's when I am really depressed.

I also got hired by the Folsom Library. I simply love the lighting inside.

It changes in response to the weather. Considering that international students can only work for a limited number of hours, I'm going to need a lot more planning to manage two jobs - with no experience with either.

It won't hurt to say that I still managed to sneak out for the WRPI meeting today. DJing is something I'd like to explore as a part-time career. Its better to be happy when you're likely to get rogered anyway.

2007-09-08T00:03:00.000-07:00

I got hired by the RenXchange. I had a 3hr training session today, and it covered the fine art of salesmanship. It was delightful to appreciate the idea behind the RenXchange. I haven't even seen the technology yet, in fact, I was quite happy appreciating the attention to detail in the demonstration given by our team leaders.

I believe this job will be fun. Plus it looks like there's plenty of money to be made thru the multiple bonuses on offer. I must admit that they made a pretty solid pitch to their newest employee.

2007-09-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

There was a Presidential Colloquy at RPI today. Followed by the ribbon-cutting to inaugrate the CCNI, apparently the most powerful University-based supercomputing center. The best thing about this facility is that you don't have to be a CS Grad to be able to use it. As far as my requirements go, I can do beautifully well with a Pentium III as long as it has sufficient RAM to run Office applications!

I went in to see what a colloquy was all about. The participants in the colloquy were Dr Shirley Ann Jackson, President of RPI, Dr Arden Bement, Director National Science Foundation, Dr J Marburger, Science Advisor to the President of the USA, and Dr John Kelly, Senior VP IBM. I guess they get quizzed on the same topics over and over, but I liked the pace at which these executives spoke. And everybody seemed to hold each other in very high regard.

We had a GradISA get-together in the evening. There was Indian food from Karavalli that I particularly enjoyed. I guess I was really hungry.

Then we watched 'Chak De India'. The hostels where the players stayed reminded me somewhat of the camps organized when I was at school. They were not the most appealing of environments.

I loved the regional dialects in Komal and Balbir's characters. And their tempers. And I absolutely liked Bindia Naik.

2007-09-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

I interviewed with the RenXchange today. If selected, I'd get paid to call Alums up and see if I can convince them to make a donation to RPI. I was asked what I'd do if somebody didn't respond positively. I see this as an interesting opportunity to talk to RPI Alums, and get a better appreciation of American sensitivities.

Later headed to the Lego Robotics Training Meeting. The goal is to train school-going kids for the Lego League. While I did play with Lego as a kid, Mindstorms are still unfamiliar territory. We used Robolab to program a Mindstorm kit-based car. I felt kinda stupid that Lego still excites me. But it was cool because there were others who felt the same way and were there to share the excitement.

2007-09-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

My MBA Advisor helped me buy a book online. She's a voracious reader and has a Barnes & Nobel Membership Card. Using that card got me a cool discount. I'm glad she offered.

We've been being advised from Day1 to start working on our resumes. I finally did. I was quite proud of mine until BB scrutinized it and told me she was quite unsure of what I wanted to say. But she appreciated the fact that I managed to squeeze all of it in 1 page!

We also had a case reading practice class today. I really liked one line that Prof Timothy Golden stated. 'Every course you take, every thing you learn, is a step towards refining your management style'. Me thinks that's a pretty concise MBA Purpose statement.

2007-09-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

Another BBQ today. This time it was the 'Welcome back to Lally School' picnic in the West Hall parking lot. I put lettuce in my frankfurter and that raised some eyebrows. And then, when I got really thirsty, I had brownies while sipping lemonade.

2007-08-31T23:22:00.000-07:00

I visited the Incubator today. It was fantastic to walk through long hallways with doors on either side that had labels listing company names.

RPI is the oldest University incubator in the US, and only caters to technology companies. Its this very environment that I've been seeking.

Later, we had a 'Welcome BBQ' at the Hefner Alumni House lawns. After a while even the free food gets sickening. Though I've become a fan of the brownies.

2007-08-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

We had the Activities Fair at the Houston Field House. There's so much happening on campus, that I'll actually have to organize myself to be able to experience a little bit of everything over the next 2 years. Although I signed up for pretty much everything that interested me, I think I will have to reduce to one each of Work-related, Social, Cultural and Sport-related activity clubs. Even managing 4 is going to mean a better organized me.

2007-08-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

We get Wednesdays off. That means there's no lectures, but all the other events are usually scheduled for Wednesday. I took the bus to Albany. This was after having wasted 20mins waiting on the wrong side of the road. I still tend to instinctively move to the left.

I had found an interesting laptop deal for a used machine on Craigslist, and thought it would be good to check the machine out.

I got to the seller's residence after 60mins of travel, to be told that the laptop had already been sold. The person had another laptop on sale. But I didn't want the Dell. The chap was still super nice in dropping me back to the bus-stop. All this even after having made no purchase?!

Hungry, I headed to Subway for a quick sandwich. I thought I had it all figured out after I had identified the sandwich on the display counter. I had no clue they customize everything. I had to choose a bread, choice of ingredients, and even the sauces. I couldn't have said it, but all I wanted was a freakin sandwich.

I boarded the bus munching onto my sandwich. The bus-driver politely, yet firmly told me 'No eating on the bus'. That's the law here. I guess that's how they keep their transportation services so clean.

2007-08-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

CP was at my door at 0730hrs. She's a Marathon runner, and I figured running with her would inspire me to do a little more than the 1 round that I 'enjoy' running. We headed to the tracks at the Houston Field House. I did 3 today.

We had 'Financial Management' today. Prof David Goldenberg's style was unique. He was pretty frank about what his idea of humor is and what his expectations from us were. This was not a get-to-know-each-other first class. We hit the ground running. Because the class was so serious, I actually concentrated like crazy. It was worth it. Finance isn't straight-forward. I guess that's why the blokes at Wall Street get paid so well.

Later Gina, Lois and Ravi took their session on 'Business Implications of Emerging Technologies'. This course is apparently really sought after. There's just so much to discuss here.

2007-08-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

We had two sessions today. The first was on 'Accounting for Reporting & Control'. Prof Yong-Chul Shin is a no-nonsense Teacher. Strictly no email or web-surfing during class. And plenty of reasons on why we should be listening to him. Overall I liked the approach. Its fast-paced but everything's explained.

Prof James Murtagh took our 'Economics & Institutions' class. The last time I was forced to study economics was during at College, and I absolutely hated it. So the thought of studying it again wasn't pleasant at all. Jim started the class with asking us to write 5 words we associated with Economics. And 5 things we expected from this course. Then he asked to discuss this stuff in teams, and scribble the economics words under the headings 'Macroeconomics' and 'Microeconomics'. In a shortwhile the board was covered with terms that sounded familiar, to stuff I knew I'd only find in textbooks. But the basic idea was to get us thinking about the subject. I was kinda happy because I am still in no mood for serious economic theory yet. I also liked the fact that my teacher went to Westpoint.

2007-08-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty interesting time at Price Chopper. The store is so huge and I can never quite figure out if I've got what I really wanted. I decided not to buy rice because I was overwhelmed by the choices. I even forgot the term 'Basmati'.

Later, I went around searching for Peta bread which resembles the Indian chapatis. Instead I found Tortillas and Wheat wraps. I never found the Peta bread, and bought the Tortillas because they looked more chapati-like. Once Classes formally begin, I am a little uncertain whether I'll have the pleasure of enjoying a full Indian meal.

2007-08-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

I slept. For most part of Saturday. I was soo low on battery that I really had no interest in doing anything else. When I finally did wake up, I made an attempt at cooking.

The stuff was edible, though I had got the salt proportion wrong. But I was so hungry that I didn't mind swallowing it all with orange juice. Of late, I have been consuming more juice and beverages than the water. If its not that, I am usually enjoying the candy.

2007-08-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

I took the 'Myers-Briggs Assessment' today. It started off at 0800hrs, and I am better prepared for turning up in Class at such hours. I get quite pissed when the same questions are asked in different ways. Luckily none of this stuff required too much thinking, so I was Ok. The results take a while, so we did more of what was on the schedule.. more interaction.

We had an 'Outdoor Adventure Ropes Course' inside the Hudson Valley Community College sports arena. I enjoyed it. The activities were built around helping us get to know the others. there were ropes to attach, and real physical exertion in store. I liked every bit of it.

We also received an invite from the Graduate Management Students Association - the 2nd year seniors wanted us at the Brown's Brewery in downtown Troy, to enjoy beer and have a good time for the last time, before classes began on Monday. I treated myself to a Brown Ale and basically helped translate some corny English phrases into Hindi. It had been a great orientation week.

2007-08-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

We had the 'International & Exchange Student Orientation' today. Most of the presenters had a flair for presenting, as they took us through their presentations on 'Legal Services', 'Immigration', 'Health Services', 'Rules for TAs', 'Computing facilities', 'Environmental Safety', and most importantly, 'Harassment Awareness'. They all made it appear like they simply loved what they were doing.

I guess that's what kept me awake thru 7hrs of presentations in the auditorium, though they just refer to it as Room 308 DCC. That, and the free lunch.

And we still weren't done. We all had team presentations to make to Dr TT that lasted another 3hrs. He brought in the owner of Tosca Grille to talk to us. Chef Larry Schepici had put a lot on the line by venturing to open a 'Manhattan-style' restaurant in downtown Troy. It was absolutely superb to see this entrepreneur talk. I could feel the oodles of energy that has been firing his imagination. As we made our presentations on our findings, the purpose of 'Statistics Bootcamp' emerged - that the numbers don't really reveal everything. So don't rely only on the Stats.

That's given me something else to think about.. how the world's Consulting firms make their conclusions based on mostly data, and a few meetings with their respective clients. Obviously Consulting is not about telling people what they think they already know.

2007-08-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ok I overslept. Actually, I had no clue that we had a session as early as 0815hrs. I arrived in class at 0900hrs. I had missed the presentations by the Registrar and Bursar. I had heard a lot about the Registrar being an excellent presenter, and I just cursed myself.

But I was on time for the 'Heroes, Leaders and Innovators' class. We had a Guest Lecturer present. I liked the fact the Dr Mark Hubbard spoke passionately of entrepreneurship, encouraging all of us to simply visit the Incubator, and experience the pleasures ourselves.

Prof Abetti made his presentation post lunch. We were also reminded of the assignments that we had to work on. I was absolutely blank. I had liked the experience of listening all this while. But now we were expected to provide some output.

2007-08-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to wake up and jog every morning, but am just not rising early enough. I woke up 0715 today, and dashed to get ready. Class was to start at 0900hrs, and I still had a lot of reading to do. We also got some press from the Joe Bruno Statistics Class!

I did manage to flip thru the essential reading before dashing off to class. Today's presentation was on 'Heroes, Leaders, and Innovators'. I liked the fact that they had three faculty take turns presenting their respective viewpoints. Prof Durgee made the introductions, and Dr Baron spoke extensively, quoting from his book, and taking time for us to make us think on what leaders are all about.

The interesting thing was that there was plenty highlighted on what's expected of leaders, but strangely enough, there was no mention of the trait of humility. Two of us actually pointed that out to Dr Baron, and I later spoke to him about it. From my past experience with the Tatas in India, I knew for sure that humility does matter. Dr Baron had an interesting take on this. He told me it was culture specific. In the US, one might be perceived as less confident, if you're too humble. He served as a Professor in France, and he told me how a pompous title got him a lot more respect there, even though he was still the same person! I wasn't too sure about how this works, but remembering my experience in India, I wonder how the Tata Leadership keep their feet so firmly on the ground.

Later, we were introduced to Prof Abetti. He was born in Florence, Italy, and is handsomely proud of his lineage. I have NEVER been taught by an 85 year-old teacher with so much energy. He discussed the legendary Jack Welch, showing us two superb videos, one of the leader speaking to an HBS class just after he took over as CEO, and the other, just after he retired, this time speaking to students at the University of Michigan. Prof Abetti watched the videos with us often asking us to concentrate on the 'Here's the rich part'. These people really know what they want us to appreciate.

Statistics Boot Camp Day2 followed, and we headed to the Brunswick Greens. I have NEVER been to a golf course before, leave alone played the game. We actually had Larry from the Greens giving us an introductory lesson in golf. The basic terminology was introduced, tips on holding the club, teeing off, and the rules of the gentlemanly game. Best of all, there were golf carts to drive around. It couldn't have been better.

I had a blast sending golf balls all over the place, with my team-mates yelling 'fore' loudly as the balls took off in dangerous directions. Larry actually came over to give us some tips on the art of discussing business on a golfing green. It was amazing how much there was to learn.

At the end of play, we sat together discussing the upcoming presentation on today's experience - there's a whole list of questions that the former Army Officer and now Clinical Professor Dr TT wants to know from us. He's told us that we better have something entertaining, because he's planning to review our assignments on his flight to China on Friday.

2007-08-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

We had our TA Microteaching assignment presentations today. I presented on 'Indian Business Etiquette'. Others presented on 'Fuel cells', 'How to play basketball', and even 'Circuit Theory'. I was quite desperate to get over with mine. Everything went well, except I said 'Oh S&*t' towards the end of my presentation. LK and I were the only MBAs in the microteaching assignment and left early to be in time for the student check-in at Management school.

I formally stepped into the Lally School of Management & Technology today. All events were completely planned. We had received an email earlier to dress in business casuals, and everybody looked their very best.

As we entered at 11AM, we were greeted by Rita, whom we had been interacting with over email, for some time now. Each first-year student was photographed for the MBA Directory, and gifted a Lally School shirt. The next few days' schedules were handed to us as we got together for free lunch. Apparently 'free' is the buzz word on campus during this time. We were gently told that this pampering would not last forever!

Everything was super-timed. The Associate Dean, Assistant Dean, and Dean made presentations in that order. I liked the fact that every individual was so mindful of their time. Gina made a presentation on the '10 Myths of the MBA' which had 12 points. This was interesting. But the fun part was Dr Tom Tiscari's presentation on Stats, which he called 'Statistics Bootcamp'.

As part of the exercise, Dr TT took us to the Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, for the ballgame. The hometeam, the TC Valleycats were playing.

The assignment was to study how the Management team at the Joe Bruno stadium uses statistics to run the concession stands at the stadium, decide on player's fortunes, and basically strategize on overall growth. I had NEVER experienced class in this manner before. Moreover, I didn't know a thing about how statistics were used in baseball. On another note, I didn't even know how its used in cricket. But when you're right where the action is, observing the others helps. We had William Gladstone, President of the TC Valleycats make a presentation to us. Plus we had the Box reserved to watch the activity in the stadium, and again, there was food and drink. We also had the TC Valleycats Coach talk to us, and the Joe Bruno Stadium General Manager and team discuss how they tracked and analyzed data. I suddenly realized how significant numbers were to these people.

Sadly, we guys were so busy working on our assignment, there really was no time to appreciate the game.

2007-08-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

Was at Christ Church today. It was very soothing.

Pastor Nina chose to screen stuff from the movie 'American Writers'. She's quite creative in relating snippets of movies to the teachings of christianity.

Later in the evening, CJ from class invited me over to her friend's place for a BBQ.

I tasted S'mores for the first time today. I also had Yuengling - supposed to be America's oldest brewed beer.

The BBQ was fantabulous, and I really enjoyed the heat from the embers, while I sipped my chilled beer in the chilling cold.

2007-08-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Mom figured how to use the internet and I am mighty thrilled about that. We chatted for a long time, and it felt good that she was able to check her email and send me messages without any typos.

2007-08-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Breakfast for the new TAs was at the Russell Sage Dining Hall. I am really enjoying the food here.

We headed to the CII, where we had a session with Tracy on how to speak. Jon took us thru some videos on the issues that TAs could face.

The approach here is to always analyze the positives, followed by what can be learnt from the negatives. Nobody is critical without being constructive.

I enjoyed lunch at the Student Union, meeting some of the other MBAs who're enrolling with me. I helped myself to a chicken grilled pizza and granola yoghurt. I also tried Diet Dr Pepper's and absolutely hated it.

I also had my speaking test results today. I scored well.

Took the bus to Walmart. I enjoy my bus rides here too.

Caught up with some of the other Indian Grad students shopping there. They offered me a ride home and I ended up having dinner at their place, and even watched a movie before calling it a day.

2007-08-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Breakfast was at the Hefner Alumni House today. As new TAs, we got treated to some pretty amazing breakfast. This was mostly an ice-breaker session.

SuMa took us around the campus showing us the place. I toured a different part of the campus with Jon too.

We also had our speaking test today. I had to give directions reading a map and speak about everyday topics.

Jen suggested we watch 'Grease' this evening. But there was a show called the 'Comedy Club' down at 4th street, and we agreed on visiting that instead.

Both Rick and Steve had some amazing gigs to present. I managed to capture some of the stuff on Gary's digital camera, but the sound didn't record. I still haven't figured out why.

These chaps finally asked us whether we wanted to enjoy some 'Nails and Fingernails' or we'd prefer 'Corporate jargon'. We agreed on the latter. Having experienced corporate culture quite closely, I thought their act was hilarious. I think being a stand-up comic is so much fun. These guys must really have their creative juices flowing all the time.

2007-08-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

Its Independence Day today, and I proudly moved around with the little tricolour coat-pin that my sibling had gifted me.

Later in the day, I participated in a VR experiment at the CogSci laboratory.

The stuff on the Head Mounted Display (HMD) looks like the old videogame screens that I had played with ages ago. I guess this is only the beginning. I was trying to catch this ball that was being shot into space from random locations. I actually got paid to enjoy myself.

In the evening, the Gradisa group got together to sing the Rashtriya Gaan.

2007-08-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

Visited the Bank to get my account sorted out. Terminology is pretty different here, and I was initially quite confused with the many new terms. The Staff here are super polite and they go all the way to explain stuff to you. I felt good about the whole experience.

I met the lady who owns 'Lazzat', the south-asian restaurant here. She's from Pakistan, and I was quite thrilled to be conversing with her in Hindi. She seemed quite happy when I asked her if I could call her Sheeba Didi. She told me that this is a pretty lively town by American standards - apparently in most other towns, one doesn't see so many people on the streets.

2007-08-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Headed to the ISSS today - there was plenty of things lined up. I had to visit the Medical Center, meet with staff from the ISSS, visit the Graduate Housing staff. Basically get all my papers in order.

It was cool that registration begins on the 13th, exactly a month after I got my visa!

2007-08-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

The freezing temperature woke me up, and I was feeling my refreshed best. I quickly changed into my shorts and tee, hoping to go jogging and basically explore my new environment. I also called home to tell them I was safe and happy.

I didn't need to think twice about where I was headed. I went to check out the Graduate Housing that had been allotted to me. It turned out to be really well furnished.

I have a lovely room to myself and two roommates - one from NJ and the other from Wisconsin. They're both from the CS dept.

From there I headed to the nearest grocery store - the place is called 'Save-a-lot', and made my initial purchases to help me thru the first few days. I also had to register and meet with staff from the ISSS. Most of the day was quite uneventful, except for the running around campus to sort my paperwork out. But this kept me busy till late evening.

The Robison Swimming Pool was closed because there was no lifeguard on duty, and so I went shopping again - this time for bedsheets and a pillow. By evening, I was quite familiar with my apartment, and some of the important building around campus.

2007-08-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

BB took me around the little city of Troy giving me a tour of the place. Then we drove thru the RPI campus visiting the Office of Public Safety to pick up a much-needed map. I knew I wasn't exploring any place without this.

I was dropped off at Nman's place. Nman and his buddies from IITM stay only a stone's throw from campus, and it was great that they were willing to let me stay over tonight.

In a little while I found myself all by myself. These chaps all had plans for an evening of cricket, and I was too tired to do anything else. So I helped myself to an omelette, and sat down to check my emails.

In the evening, we caught up with a few other chaps for a 'Pot Luck' dinner. I was delighted to be having idlis and authentic south-Indian chutney and sambhar in this part of the world. I was also very very hungry. These chaps suggested that we get home, because I kept dozing off while speaking to the many people in the room.

When we finally arrived at home, I made myself comfortable on the sofa, and was asleep before I had finished saying good night. I wasn't jetlagged, just plain sleepy.

2007-08-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to do my own thing. So when I boarded my flight from Jaipur, I was sincerely hoping I had taken the right decision.

I figured going to America and enrolling for an MBA that specializes in technological entrepreneurship is the fastest way to getting to do my own thing. I wanted to start afresh. From scratch, with almost no bank balance too..

This was a long Jet Airways flight. I flew Domestic from Jaipur to Mumbai. Then from Mumbai to Brussels where we stopped for refuelling. We reboarded at Brussels, and I didn't get my bulkhead seat again. Instead, I got one in front of the bulkhead, but I also had the seat next to mine vacant. So I really stretched myself out, and helped myself to the movie collection. I know I wont have so much time to kill again.

Watched 'Khosla ka Ghosla', 'Honeymoon Travels' and 'Bluffmaster' back to back.

While KKG was simply amazing, especially the chemistry shared by the lead characters, I loved Kaykay in HT. The Junior B is one smoothie in Bluffmaster, though I liked the music tracks a lot more.

I landed in the US at Newark airport. After the necessary clearances, I headed for the domestic terminal to get my flight to Albany. The Continental Aircraft was really tiny, with only one aisle, and each row consisted of only 3 seats, arranged in twos and ones. I was tired but still very excited.

At Albany, my MBA Mentor, BB received me. I'm a student again.
That's what I like about the reset button.