An interesting battle is taking shape in the movie distribution and presentation market.

Hey! Canada just won the Oscar for best international language film! Go Canada Go!

In other news, some wise advise from the vault of Mr. Stevie J:

"If you're not wasted, the day certainly is!"

And not to encourage him further, but a good forward he also sent:

"TWELVE DIE IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT !!"

"Monday Night at Morton's" is a column by that very cool and intelligent actor Ben Stein (you might remember him as the teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off... Bueller... Bueller....) that he's done for E! Online for the past 6 year or so. His humour is extremely witty and his column will be missed.

Sales is the lifeblood of any company, here's an except from a post on the MBET Blog:

"the most interesting point was that successful companies had high levels of sales force productivity. So many people talk about success being based on technical excellence. To heck with that. Success is based on how hard you can sell your product. The rest of the stuff is important but never forget that a great company is more than just a R&D department."

My thoughts exactly, problems with your product, technology or customers are all serious issues, but none of them scare me. Sitting with a perfect product with great infrastructure to support it without a consistent sales flow does.

Hello everyone from Scobleizer!

Earlier today I posted my link in the comments section of a post on the Scobleizer blog (first comment post I might add!). Well Scobie doesn't lie cus my traffic is rissing fast, guess the least I could do is add his blog to my list... done. Everyone who's getting here through that link have fun and let me know if you have something interesting to post, thanks!

Next on the link to do list... Slashdot :-)

An article from the magazine "Fast Company" looking at some of the misconcoptions of the dot-com age.

The 2004 Juno's (Canadian music awards) are fast approaching (never mind about that other small awards ceremony that I think are called the "Oscars"). Check out this years candidates which include Barenaked Ladies for the group of the year... I just downloaded the online Ottawa show that I went to last week, fantastic!

A cool site that has pictures from around the world for every time of the day. Great for wasting away a Saturday afternoon :-) That and the copy of "Hangin' Tough" by New Kids on the Block that I'm listening to :-p

Ever wonder what the Microsoft office campus looks like? Check it out!

One very noticeable difference between Germans and Canadians/North Americans alike is the perception of what constitutes a long distance. To a German driving 4 hours from Frankfurt to Munich for O'fest is some kind of life vacation, whereas the 6 hour trek from university to home is little more than an afternoon excursion for a Canadian. Maybe it has more to do than just culture (take a look at the size of Canada as opposed to Germany), maybe our low gas prices play a role :-)

This perception also differs between urban and rural dwellers. Ask a Toronto-ite to drive 5 minutes to meet you somewhere and you'll get a whining pitch that would make the four tenors jealous, whereas we country folk will happily drive 45 minutes to catch a movie in the city.

Well there's one thing we can all agree on, this guy is crazy.

For those of you trudgeing through college application essays, here's a blast from the past:

IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

Dreams are funny creatures. Last night I had a dream about the old TV show "China Beach" starring Dana Delaney (I used to have a crush on her when I was 12 :-p ). Today I had the increadable urge to listen to the theme song for that show, "Reflections" by Diana Ross and the Supremes... good times.

A list of the 100 most mispronounced English words, don't even get me started on Canadian mispronunciations eh!

On Tuesday we went to the "Barenaked Ladies" concert and quite possibly it was the best concert I've ever been to (despite an impressive list including woodstock). Not only was the concert amazing, but they offer live copies of their shows a couple days afterwards for sale on their website, very cool. During the show they had fan involvement, choreographed routine parodies, some funny banter and comedic cartoon interludes featuring the Red vs. Blue characters.

All in all one of the best (if not THE best) concert I've ever been to.

An interesting story about a guy who cashed a junk check sent to him by an advertiser in the mail, skim it though cus it's a bit stretched out.

CeBIT is the largest computer trade show in Germany (maybe the world) and is held every year in Hannover. This years show is March 18th - 24th and although I've been in Germany the past 3 years for the show, for various reasons (hangovers) I've never been able to attend. I hope to change this streak this year so if any others are interested in checking it out for a day or two (maybe on a weekend with the cheap 5 people for 25 euros DB deal) to make a bit of a roadie out of it, let me know.

The main excitement for cuming home was hockey, food, friends and family (not necessarily in that order) however great TV was also a priority. What seemed old and stale before I left for Germany is now new and exciting (I'm not hard to please). While shows like NYPD Blue and West Wing have continued the tradition of captivating television, some new shows that I was excited to see turned out to be BOMBS... what I'm trying to say is, the Apprentice sux!!

Anice forward I got from my 10 year old niece, same goes from me to you all (you know who you are!):

I have no news to tell you....
nor any problems to discuss with you....
or gossip to tell you...

It's only one of those happy moments...
when I thought of you...
and I would like to share these thoughts with you...
many smiles begin because of another smile...

Always have good self esteem...
Take care of your friends, especially those dearest to you...
Take care of your body...
But most of all find time to relax...

A Big Hug
from your friend...

Oh yeah! I think comments are back up and running! Sweet sass molass!

Fuck, just realized that my comments arn't working anymore cus the utility I was using is down and out for the count... I'll look into other providers next week and try and get them online again. Thanks to all who posted valuable (or not) comments over the last year, they have all been lost :-)

Wow! How embarrising is this!

Here's a fun puzzle site, and if you need to take a bathroom break check out this hilarious site showing pictures of urinals around the world.

I've worked as a business analyst in a call-centre environment and this type of "fly-by-night" training happens all the time. Disturbing.

Where's the world of computer hardware going? Interesting.

The universe is an amazing and mysterious thing... especially when you have an assignment due :-)

I'm back! E-mails, assignments and housing stuff to cum shortly. If you're wondering about getting a new destop or to go with a laptop, get a laptop. The prices for laptops with more than enough power for typical MS Office applications are nothing (around 1000 euros) and you'll end up using it all the time. I'm also big on centrino (even though I didn't go with it myself due to price, the one regret I have) as the integrated wi-fi is great and the longer battery life cums up more often than I thought it would (even though I purchased an extra battery). I narrowed my choices down to a Dell (based on their EXTREMELY great customer service and reliability that I have enjoyed for the last 7 years for the range of destops I've owned), a multi-media Toshiba (a great deal for this model which I narrowly chose) and the IBM thinkpad which I finally decided upon (a little more costly than the others, so I opted for a cheaper model with less processing power, but the reliability, warrenty and keyboard feel won me over).

Man it's hard to post when there's just so much to do cuming home! To all those who've sent e-mails, hang in there I'll get to most of em' early next week.

Lots of stuff to comment on, including the sweet Senators trade for Bondra, but again, early next week :-)

Hope all of you are enjoying the semester break as much as I am! This Ex is for you :-) (see post below).

Beer commercials have been very good and funny for a long time now. Here's an article that touches on the subject. I had a Molson Ex for the first time in 7 months during my inaguable Hockey Night in Canada game of 2004 and it was heaven!

For some great intellectual humour check out Dennis Miller. I loved it when he was on Monday Night Football, but the masses have spoken. I guess it didn't work because most of the drunkies watching football needed to dig out a dictionary every time Miller spoke, he sure was funny though!

Ever wanted to know more about space flight, check out Basics of Spaceflight 101. I don't think this is offered at Pforzheim this term :-)

I've discussed "the Slashdot effect"... here's the "Google effect".

If you've got a land line in Germany and like to call around then here's a website which lists all the codes for getting cheaper rates to all the destinations within and outside Germany.

Oddtodd's "thing I learned from the TV today" post for Valentines Day:

"I found out some stuff about Japan today. It's kinda common for married Japanese dudes to do some 'compensated dating'. Basically they have like a call girl type situation and pay for sex. For some Japanese dudes sex outside of marriage is ok as long as it's paid for in cash. If you cheat based on love or feelings or whatever you're totally cheating. But if you shell out the bucks- you're in the clear. Or so the tv said."

Hilarious...

I'm back! After a weekend of sleeping and stuffing my face with meat and other north american treats I'm back into the grind. I've got a bunch of case reviews to go through as well as one lingering Biz leadership assignment due Friday. Anyways, here's an article which gives a brief overview of what's going on in the US cell phone market. If you're thinking about getting a cell phone in Germany (which they call "handys"... don't ask), get an "O2" phone. They offer 250 free sms's a month (you will become ADDICTED to sms here in Pforzheim!) and cheap calls if you're within a kilometer of your home (which the university usually is).

I went with Vodaphone and got screwed, if you look at some of my previous posts my cell phone bills for the first 5 months look like this (in Euros):

260 Є
180 Є
150 Є
180 Є
220 Є

Ouch @#$%&!!!!

Blogging is going to take a back seat to the real world this week as I just got back home (Yeahhh hockey and real food!!). Congrats to fedorov for being the first Russian to reach 1,000 points... too bad Anna dumped you eh!

Seeing as I just sent out the introductory e-mail from the students committee to the incuming MBA class for next semester I thought I'd repost a picture from last semesters class (some members missing):



But seriously:

I'm addicted to chocolate, and in Germany it takes the form of consuming 2-3 bars a day of Ritter Sport chocolate. The milk chocolate (dark blue wrapper) is my favorite. Recently they came out with "sugar free" versions of most of their more popular brands... don't waste your time, THEY ARE TERRIBLE.



No sugar = No taste! (actually there was a taste, but something that butchers the good name of chocolate that badly does not have a name!)

Need some post exam stress relief? Check this out, hilarious! Props to Mica for sending it to me first!

If you're into indie music, go check out Terra Naomi. It's becuming quite popular amoung most of my female friends (the music is girly), but what I really like is her sarcasm as shown in her bio. Another good example is under her "contact" section of her website she has:

---

Terra: terra@terranaomi.com

Booking: booking@terranaomi.com

Webmaster: webmaster@terranaomi.com

Complaints: gofuckyourself@terranaomi.com

Stalkers: iamcreepy@terranaomi.com

---

The complaints and stalkers e-mail addresses are priceless! Also a quote from her blog which could also apply to EuroRoss:

"i know, i'm supposed to comment on current events and left-wing politics, but let's just assume that i feel exactly the same way you do about those things and move on to other issues." [like hockey :-) ]

After a big SuperBowl win, there's nothing else really to do... except riot of course. Check out Northeastern University's security website where they use photos taken from the riots to try and catch and punish the vandals. Let this be a lesson children! (make sure to take out the camera guy first before going on an alcohol indused hoolaganism spree)

I never really thought about how hard it would be to see a white soccer ball when playing an official game in the snow, but lone behold the answer is to use a crazy orange one. Today in the second bundesliga Bielefeld game they used one of these orange balls, kinda funny to watch!

I'm now takeing bets on wether I'll be able to get into EuroCup 2004:

"Police will give breath tests to fans who arrive for Euro 2004 soccer games looking drunk, turning them away if they're over the alcohol limit for driving in an effort to prevent hooliganism." - Ottawa Citizen

The odds don't look good, 10-1 against?

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Also in the Citizen talking about how Schroeder has now resigned as party leader but has not stepped down from his position of chancellor:

"He stressed that he would not step down as chancellor, but his decision to give up the party leadership raises questions as to whether he can cheat political death for much longer."

Yes, just how long CAN he "cheat political death" :-)

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And finally, in the ongoing competition between Canada and Russia on "all things hockey", Ottawa (my birthplace, capital of Canada and home to the longest skating rink in the world) is now challenging Russia's claim to have the largest rink. This is all just a leadup to Russia's eventual ASS-KICKING that Canada will lay on them at the World Hockey Championships. Let round 1 begin!

Do YOU have a sixth sence? Maybe we all do!

This quote cums from a VC blog:

Many of you have heard the analogy that the VC due diligence process is like dating and getting the investment is akin to being married. For all of you in relationships, you also understand that honest and open communication is one of the keys to success. Similarly, the VC and entrepreneur relationship should be built on the same foundation.

I've heard both good and bad stories about working with VC's, and not just bad when the company fails, sometimes on the successes as well! What's your opinions?

I love this quote used later in that same post:

- Clint Eastwood said in the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, "There are two kinds of people in this world. Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig."

An interesting article that interviewed five MBA deans and had them answer a question from their own MBA application form :-)