Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Just another busy day at the office ;-)



After dealing with term sheets all night I decided to take a quick hike to enjoy the afternoon before our big group meeting. Term sheets, while they help protect both investors and the company for times of despair, must have been invented by the devil. I've got valuation terms cuming out my butt!

Some net thoughts:

Corporate America is less interested in Ivy league university graduates? Well obviously that's because they're chasing after us Pforzheim grads... right? ;-) Speaking about Business schools, apparently the cost to slap you name on one of those is going up. The best line is near the end "One day very soon it may be said, "I graduated from Ross", Amen brother :-)

It always amazes me how people find the EuroRoss site, for intance take a look at the Google search that made someone click on my site (Google ranks EuroRoss as #3 for this search): "it'll be a cold day in hell when I sleep with you and being that I slept with her last night". Um ok.

For those of you that've been asking me about how to start a blog etc, here's a great presentation about blogs (just get through the second slide on WiFi which is boring and the rest is pretty informative). I like his point about creating original content, bringing something creative to the table instead of just a collection of links. Of course this takes "much more" time, but it's something I want to work on for EuroRoss. Here's a paraphrase from the presentation that I liked:

"Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you're never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching."
- Satchel Paige

I just found out that they've upgraded my Blogger account to allow half a gig of storage for photo's files etc (it used to be 25 megs and I feared my site was soon going to be at the limit). Sweet! Noe I think I can post some of these PDF resource files that I've been collecting.

Got this from the news today: "Postal workers in Russia are to be issued with guns to deter thugs from stealing cash welfare payments" um ok, cash pension payments? Wow.

Need something to pass the time? This site has got lots of stuff for you! Puzzles, illusions, games, the list goes on.

The U.S. government reported a yearly deficit of around $400 billion last year, but using GAAP accounting they actually lost... drumroll please... 11 TRILLION. Um, that's alot of money eh.

Having had lived in Germany now for about 2 years you really get a sence of how radically enviromentalist everyone is. I mean do we really need 6 different types of trash, and if so, they do they have to be on separate days without any type of regularity (with the exception of "regular" trash day once a week, whatever that is)? Anyways, Canada's got a mini-celebrity named David Suzuki who had a great nature and environment show for decades "The Nature of Things". He's a guru, he brings the issues to us in an interesting way, and he's got a website. Check it out... I was wondering if he had already recieved the "Order of Canada" which is Canada's highest honour, guess what, of course he has! So has the greatest player of all time Wayne Gretzky, as well as other hockey players like Guy Lafleur and "Rocket" Richard, what do you expect, this is Canada! ;-)

An interesting look at the fast food industry and firm positioning within.

This guy sets up a camera to record the Golden Gate Bridge telling city officials it's to see "the typical day of the bridge" when in fact he's doing a movie on suicide (the cameras pick up everyone jumping off the bridge. I don't even know what to think about this, half of me is disgusted and the other half thinks its thought provoking.

Some would think that this practice is unethical however I doubt it's illegal and I think it's a great example of the importance of good corporate intellegence activities, you can increase the value of your resources by reducing the effectiveness of your competitors expenditures. The job of an entrepreneur, find a need and fill it.

Here's a good article called "How to sell your boss" that has some good points. Summary of his points:

1 - "No one cares about your needs" - moral sell the presentation on the needs of your boss
2 - "Pick your battles" - yep
3 - "Do your homework" , "Start with the conclusion"
4 - "Devil's Advocate" - Review your proposal, think of every possible question and objection (and have the answers for them)
5 - Presenting Skills - Here's how to get your laptop in PowerPoint presenter mode
6 - Analysis and Review afterwards

I also liked his post on goal setting, and this post (which is a forward that I have seen before but is absolutely hilarious if you've got any bit of geek in you).

If you don't know who Robert Scoble is, then one, you're not a geek, and two he's a Microsoft employee that has the most popular blog on the web. In fact this little analysis shows how powerful his opinions can be, outreaching the power of HUGE power of the biggest PR firms. I also scam links from his page once in a while ;-)

When I was younger and learning how to type I always wondered why someone (like the government or industry) didn't promote a move over to keyboards designed for speed and efficiency like this. now I realize it's because I'm old and don't want to relearn how to type :-)

Today I leave you with the lyrics from a great tune, "The Reason" by Hoobastank:

I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you

I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears
Thats why I need you to hear

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is You

I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do

And the reason is you