Follow-up thoughts on being a Mac (1+ month in)

Just wanted to follow-up on my previous post with some things I forgot to mention and my impressions now that I've been using my MacBook Pro for over a month.

One of the biggest positives of OSX is no longer having the lame Flash bug I had on both Vista machines I was running. This annoying bug only played flash videos for 2 seconds and without sound. It effectively made it impossible to watch most online videos, including YouTube! It's amazing when things work as you expect them to.

The lack of a right-mouse button on the notebook itself hasn't been as bad since I use a USB mouse at work that has a right mouse-button that works fine (without any configuring on my part).

I was frustrated that tabbing with the keyboard seemed to always skip dropdown boxes. Thanks to writing this post, I forced myself to finally try figuring it out and a google search helped me find some help in changing this. I just activated it so haven't used it in normal browsing yet, but one thing i've noticed is that when tabbing to the dropdown box i don't seem to be able to expand the list of options, only cycle through them. Hopefully there's a way to do that, but i'm too tired to search for that answer right now.

All-and-all, i'm pretty surprised how quickly i adapted to using my MacBook Pro and OSX, and it's amazing how clunky PCs feel to me now. So far, the MacBook Pro has proven to be a more elegant machine, and OS X has not surprisingly been a far superior OS to Windows.

Learning to be a Mac

It's been about 2.5 weeks since i got my MacBook Pro for work, and so far i've been mighty impressed. As a quick background, i've been a PC user since i was 6, and a ThinkPad user for the past 11 years. I absolutely loved my T42 (running the stable and usable Windows XP). Last year i got an X61 running Vista Business and have been very disappointed. I love the form-factor and size of the X-series ThinkPads, but it was crashing constantly, among other issues. So when i got the choice of choosing a laptop for work, my decision wasn't too hard:

• ThinkPads are no longer IBM machines
• I've been punished by Microsoft for way too long already
• Most of the other people at work use MacBook Pros
• I was fairly clueless around Macs/OSX and felt kinda stupid as someone who's supposed to be relatively tech savvy
  

So how's it been so far? Pretty awesome. :)

The goods:

• It is so freakin' fast to boot up, sleep, wake. I remember my X61 took about 5 minutes to hibernate or resume.
• Its sleep mode is so impressively battery efficient (as Paul had told me before)
  
• OSX (10.5.5) is really stable. I've had one or two programs freeze up, but haven't had the whole OS freeze up on me (*cough*, Vista, *cough*).
• Most of the functions are fairly intuitive and logical once you know how to do them, and work really well (i.e.--scrolling using two fingers on the touch pad).
• Seems to be a short-cut key for everything (just need to learn them all; http://www.usingmac.com/2007/11/21/mac-os-x-leopard-200-productivity-booster-hotkeys is a great resource).
  
• Built-in iChat is so easy to use and performs pretty well.
• Beautiful bright screen, good speakers.
• No longer having to deal with Windows.
  

The not so goods:

• I still don't know whether to use control, option, or command when i want to skip to the beginning/end of a line or skip from word to word. I don't think it's even consistent among programs.
• No right-mouse button. Yes i can hold control while clicking, but it's so much slower.
  
• As people have said, the machine does get quite hot.

While i felt really strange about it when i first took my Macbook Pro out of its pretty packaging, i've quickly grown to love it, and to enjoy being among the increasing number of people who "are a Mac".

Sad day in Packers' history

What a tiring week for Packer fans. The anticipation and feeling of near-certainty that Brett Favre would be under center again in Green Bay quickly turning to a skipped heart-beat as Mike McCarthy (coach) and Favre's conversation dragged on and on. And then the dagger. McCarthy and Favre couldn't patch things up and move forward together. A couple of hours ago, it was announced that the Packers have traded Favre to the NY Jets.

While this might make "good business sense" in terms of planning for the future, that's about the only sense it makes. With McCarthy declaring as loudly as possible that the team has moved on with Aaron Rodgers as his starting QB, he drove a chasm between Favre and himself. A gaping hole so large that there was no way for it to be patched up at this point, especially with McCarthy having no intentions of doing so. So now you've put your team in a position where its chances of winning the Superbowl are less than they could have been. For the record, I do believe the Packers are a very good team and will do very well this year. But that's beside the point. In the end, all Favre wanted was a little appreciation. A little respect. After all that he's done for the franchise, I don't think that's asking very much.

I'm growing weary of sport management teams' egos and poor decision making ruining my love for my teams. Take Exhibit 1: James Dolan (owner) runs the Knicks into the gutter and keeps them there for years. Finally with GM Donnie Walsh and Coach Mike D'Antoni there's a ray of hope back at Madison Square Garden. Dolan's left an awful taste in my mouth that won't go away until his family sells the Knicks to new ownership.

I have the same feelings now toward McCarthy and Ted Thompson (GM). From the events of this past summer, they've struck me as extremely egotistical and stubborn. Yes, Favre might have caused their lives some difficulties by retiring and then wanting to unretire, but he's Brett Favre. He's the one that's given everything he had to the team for 16 seasons. He played hurt. He suffered concussions. He had personal tragedies, yet through it all he didn't miss a single game. And that's also the problem McCarthy and Thompson have. That he's Brett Favre, and everyone knew that the Packers were Brett Favre's team. Well congratulations to them. Now they can say it's Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson's team. And as long as that's the case, i'll have the same awful taste in my mouth, and have trouble fully embracing the Packers.

I'll still root for the green and gold, because McCarthy and Thompson will be but a blip in the Packers' storied history. But I'll always be rooting harder for Brett Favre.

Favre VS Packers

I'm sure a lot of people are tired of hearing about the Brett Favre/Green Bay Packers standoff. They must be, because as a fan of both Favre and the Packers, i'm getting pretty sick of how long this has dragged on. I'm posting my thoughts here, and then attempting to read no more about the situation until a resolution is reached.

Frankly, i'm disappointed in the Packers organization. Brett Favre poured his heart and soul into playing football and bringing prominence back to Titletown (Green Bay). For 16 seasons he never missed a game, brought them to the NFC conference championship game, to the Superbowl, and to a Superbowl victory. This is not how you treat your people, let alone a legend and iconic figure in your team's history. It may be different if Favre was hobbling along and no longer the player that he once was. But his performance last season proved that he is still one of the best QBs to have on the field.

Favre is not without blame. You can blame him for committing to retiring in early March and then changing his mind. But Packers' management should've been well-aware that no retirement decision is ever final, especially in sports, especially with atheletes who have been at the top of their sport, and especially with a fierce competitor like Brett Favre. Favre maybe should've left the media out of it and just filed for reinstatement and showed up for camp, before the Packers made statements of their commitment to Aaron Rodgers. Though this thought is just speculation, as i'm sure there's far more going on behind closed doors than most of us are aware of.

Sadly, i've come to the point where i'm fairly disgusted at the Packers management. All Favre wants to do is suit up and play the game that he loves. For the game and team he has never let down, despite encountering more personal tragedies than one person should have to endure.
If #4 isn't the starting QB for the Packers this fall, i just might retire from being a Packers fan. And i won't expect the Packers to plan for me to change my mind on that.

"Only" Week 3

Last Friday it was somehow brought to my attention that we had just completed the second week of classes—it was actually a shock to realize that only two weeks had passed. It really felt much more like eight weeks. I had expected to be busy, especially with all of the forewarning about the intensity and craziness of MIT Sloan's Core Semester, but the level of intensity and busyness has definitely exceeded my expectations.

Now you may think, "Wait a minute—this is business school we're talking about. Don't M.B.A.'s all just drink and socialize?" I can't speak for other schools, but at Sloan they've definitely been piling it on. To clarify, it's not a matter of any particular tasks being incredibly intellectually difficult, at least not when compared to science/engineering (although Econ and DMD (data, models, and decisions) aren't pushovers). The best analogy is drinking from a fire hose.

In addition to classes and their respective high volumes of required assignments and reading, much time is required for the many interesting student clubs and interest groups. The idea of opportunity cost is well ingrained in us since nearly every lunch period or evening is an exercise in deciding which of the two (to six) meetings/presentations/events to attend (or to simply find time to catch up on assignments).

Although it's been stressful and tiring, it's been a great experience. Life certainly won't get much easier in the near future in terms of time management and prioritizing things, so I'm certain I'll look back on this experience as an invaluable lesson to draw upon throughout my career.

To speak a little more personally, the Core classes (required for everyone) I'm taking are:

• 15.010 - Economic Analysis for Business Decisions
  
• 15.060 - Data, Models, and Decisions (DMD)
  
• 15.515 - Financial Accounting
• 15.280 - Communication for Managers
  
• 15.311 - Organizational Processes (OP)
  
• 15.328 - OP Team Project

Of the below two electives we have to choose between, I'm taking Marketing.

• 15.401 - Finance Theory I
• 15.810 - Marketing

And lastly, as part of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program, I am taking the course:

• 15.360 - Introduction to Tech Entrepreneurship

What I've found impressive is how all the classes blend fairly well together. Ideas from the various classes are often introduced or play a role in other classes, so it makes sense from a practical standpoint how you can use the lessons in real workplace situations.

I'm just starting to get my head around prioritizing the countless activities available on campus, so hopefully I can touch upon that in my next post!

Beginning my b-school adventure

although i haven't even officially started school, the past couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy for me. to be fair, a sizable chunk of time has been for social activities ("networking") with my new classmates, but this is still without assignments, projects, tests, or student orgs. this busyness results in very little free time to do things, such as blogging. i prob won't have time to update regularly, but hope to do some more "meaty" ones every now and then. so... some highlights from these past couple of weeks:

two weekends ago i went on a pre-term "E-trek" for white water rafting with some other '09 Sloanies. at the last minute, we were informed that no second year ('08) Sloanie could go with us, so they were looking for first years to volunteer to lead the trip. Raphael and I offered to co-lead the trip and, for better or worse, we did. :) we went on the Kennebec River which had class 3-4 rapids. it was seriously a lot of fun, though i wish there were more rapids to take on. despite the cold and at times rainy weather, the trip was a lot of fun and a great bonding experience. a lot of my closer friends now are still the ones i spent time with on the trip.

another notable thing is that i ate lobster 3 times in 9 days. these lobsters were full lobsters (except for the amputee lobster i got during the Sloan Orientation Clam Bake) and so i'm rather experienced now at eating lobsters. :P i don't plan to keep this up though.

in addition to the white water rafting, i also learned to sail last Sunday. went with Nita and David and now are allowed to take out the 'tech dinghy' boats by ourselves. it wasn't too bad, except for when the boat started tipping severely and fear of being submersed in the Charles River crept into mind. i definitely would like to sail more and get certified to take out larger boats, but am guessing it won't fall high enough on my priority of activities.

yesterday, as part of Orientation, i went out to the Warren Center and did a bunch of great team building exercises. so as not to spoil this for future Sloanies, i won't comment much about it, but it was a great time and a great way to bond with my core team.

we ended Orientation activities today by playing the Beer Game. no beer is actually involved in playing the beer game (beer is just the chosen product). again, won't say too much about the specifics; however, i will say that of the 43 teams there were, the team i was on (Sloan Adams) came in first place! was fun/exciting/unexpected to have done as well as we did, although the professor was quick to remind us that our performance was still far from optimal. :P

now on to the many other things left on my to do list as i go into labor day weekend (a four day weekend for me) before classes commence.

I think I'll go to Boston

She said I think I'll go to Boston...
I think I'll start a new life,
I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name,
I'll get out of California, I'm tired of the weather,
I think I'll get a lover and fly 'em out to Spain...
I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice...

- Augustana, "Boston"


so chris met up with me around 8 am on East 117th St. to pick up a Budget moving truck for
the big move. it was a beautiful day out, making both moving stuff and the drive up enjoyable. it was a good time to just chat with chris. although we talk often, you always touch upon different topics... naturally, with the move, we reflected on the past and such. one thing is how it was my second time saying goodbye to New York. Chris added "but this time for good." but that's what i thought last time too. i guess we'll see...

we made it to my new residence by about 5 pm. unfortunately, once here, the lady at the front desk said there was no indication that i was to be moving in that day. naturally it was a little irritating after the early morning and long drive. she was only a temp for the weekend so wasn't sure what to do. i had to insist a bit to try to talk to an authority figure since she had said no one was working on the weekends. fortunately, after a bit she started pro actively trying to find someone to help sort things out. about an hour (or more) later, i had a key and was in my new place.

Robin and Karin kindly came by to help me unload and move stuff in. The extra hands definitely helped speed things up. Afterward we went and had dinner at Basta Pasta. Good stuff and definitely helped Chris and me recharge. Next, we went back to Robin's place and hung out, played some video games and Robin and Karin also taught Chris and me how to play a card game called Bohnanza. in it, you are a bean farmer. it's much funner than it sounds. really. apparently Bean farming can be time consuming. we finally got back to my new home nearing 2 am.

my room's still disorganized, but i'm liking it so far. the first time i've ever really had my own place (it's a studio / "efficiency"), although there are plenty of other students all around me.

on that note, i should get back to unpacking/organizing...