Google shares $$ w/ viral video makers

File this under proper management/leadership decision. You know/heard/seen the Diet Coke and Mentos viral video right? Google has decided to share its' ad revenue w/ those guys. Here's the article from C|Net. Shows a lot of integrity from Google management to recognize they benefited from other people's goofy hard work. I deeply respect that.

Your words pales in comparison to your actions. -tvu

The two guys (Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz) from eepybird.com made another Diet Coke and Mentos.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween...

Words of wisedom from this past weekend

Sacrifice - Placing the concerns of others before yours'

Strength - Not using your superior physical attributes upon a weaker person

Integrity - Knowing that you will get away with it, but still not doing it

Class - Not saying hurtful things to the other person and/or situation

Character - They did you wrong and you rightfully can unleash your anger, fury,...but you don't lose your control. You don't lose your character

Buy flowers for others, to brighten your day...

When feeling lousy, try to cheer up other people so you don't have to think about your problems. Sounds weird? Try it. Next time you feel bad, buy flowers for another person. Their reaction will put a smile on you. Thus, I submit something that will put a smile on your face, so it will put a smile on my depressed face.

Joining the $100,000 club

Read this article "Joining the $100,000 club" from CNN, which was linked from BizdeanTalk Blog. Here's short excerpt from the article;

Taking an MBA at a top business school is a classic route to boosting your salary.

And now, according to a new survey, those who take the right MBA can demand a basic salary of $100,000 or more as soon as their studies are over.

The eye-catching figure comes in a major poll of MBA students and recruiters around the world for Business Week magazine.

The latest version of the once-every-two-years survey, which processed questionnaires from more than 9,000 students and 200-plus recruiters, found that graduates from almost a third of the top 30-ranked US MBA programs earned an average of $100,000 or more on graduating, a figure generally boosted further by other benefits.

On average, those leaving one of the top 30 schools walked into jobs worth $95,000 a year, up 9.7% on the last survey in 2004, also receiving an average of two job offers each.

Does not matter these are US schools. I'm still focusing on a international B-school. I would love to include this part of my many clubs I am active in; Sigma Chi Omega Alumni (Co-founded multinational fraternity), ZotSpeak (Toastmaster International), -tvu Surf Club, Flying club (was working towards "private pilot certificate", flying single engine cessna but on "hold" to raise god-son)...hmm any clubs I might of forgotten? YES...Club Rafael, my future gig as host in Japan!

Candy for your ears

Came across this blog trolling for Jazz, which then lead me to sign up w/ Odeo. Podcasting that has free, unrestricted musics. One of the two founders, founded blogger! Very intersting. Here's their story in their words;

Odeo is a small company based in South Park, San Francisco, California.

We were founded in December, 2004 by Noah Glass and Evan Williams. Noah had been helping individuals publish audio to the web for over two years with his company, ListenLab, which provided a service called AudBlog (now part of Odeo). Evan was most recently with Google, where he ran their personal publishing service, Blogger, which he co-founded in 1999 and sold to Google in early 2003. (You can find Noah and Evan's personal blogs here and here.)

As a company, we believe strongly in the democratization of media. We think that giving more people powerful tools for the creation and distribution of media will result in more knowledge, ideas, art, truth, and amusement available to all. This, we see, is one of the most important roles (if not the most important) that the Internet is playing in society today.

And we think that the potential for new forms of audio content is particularly exciting, as it is one of the most ubiquitous mediums possible, yet also one that has lacked options for so long.

We're a tiny team now but starting to grow. And we're looking for top coders, smart business people, and others who are interested in doing neat stuff. If you're interested in working or partnering with us in some way, please let us know (we're very busy right now, but will try to get back to you).

So dear friends, I will start posting more music for your entertainment. I know you can only take so much of my silly poems, so here's some candy for your ears.

A range of jazzy hip-hop & beats lovingly blended together with a dash of nu-jazz and jazz to make a smooth. This special mix is filled with soulful Japanese artists of today. Enjoy!

powered by ODEO

Studying is cool...if you're getting the materials.

Last night was pretty cool. I had completed another dragging work day and went to Kaplan's study center for my usual three hours study. My GMAT cram course is done, so it's all self driven from now on. My tentative "dun-duh-dum" GMAT date is Nov 17, it is approximately three weeks away. My arshe is focused and motivated. It's a Tuesday night and only three to five people where studying. Yea, we're the few focused, no life, losers that are motivated. The GMAT review materials were actually making sense and I was feeling great! Spurred on by this academic high, I pushed through the materials and felt even more charged up. I'm such a nerd. Back in undergrad dates, I sometimes...OK very, very sometimes studied on Saturday nights to cover courses I was behind. Even then, I felt super cool. I like learning new stuff. I am a geek and learning new different interesting things is really fun.

It is when I'm not understanding the materials, when it gets painful. Feels like beating head to the wall and there's a hollow echo in the head. I push through and keep at it, but the feedback from the echo gets louder and louder. Back in undergrad, I would stop and lite up a cancer stick. Now -tvu is older and hopefully wiser and pays more attention to healthy life style, thus a cancer stick is a NO NO. In the future, I can ask for help from my B-school study group. But that is the future and now it's just me, myself, and -tvu. So I was super stoked w/ myself for understanding all this standardized sh*t...stuff.

Learning. Cool for kids and fun for -tvu.

Life Lessons from this passed weekend

A hard journey is the path inward

The harder journey is finding illumination from within

A long journey is the distance between two hearts

The longer journey is communication between the two hearts

A wise person learns from his/her mistakes

A wiser person learns from others mistakes

You have to be strong, to lead

You have to be stronger, to be lead

It's OK to be tired

It's not OK to be lazy

You can be sexy while being slutty

You can be sexier while being classy

Replacing surf session for study session

It's Friday and the work day is almost over and I should be grabbing my board and heading out to Newport Beach for my Friday surf session. But no~ I'm going to put in a few hours of GMAT studies (similar to last Friday's 2 hour study session). Hmmm...replacing surf session for study session. After reading the 1st year B-school studies, I anticipate my schedule will still be the same. Lack of sleep, lots of work, lots of reading, and lots of cramming. One huge difference is I'll be in suffering in Europe, instead of familiar SoCal. ~Sigh~

Attached are two videos of surfing in my local breaks, HB (Huntington Beach) and NB (Newport Beach). Hopefully I won't forget how to surf after all this B-school stuff is taken care of.

Have a good weekend!



TOP VIEW OF SURFERS FROM HB PIER




NEWPORT BEACH - Where I surf Friday after work. Pier in background is NB pier

Hello...Bubye, Waves of R1 deadlines

As the waves of R1 deadlines are here and my co-applicants (i.e. RusGirl, Iday) have submitted to their dream B-school, I breath a depressing sigh. I'm still studying for the GMAT but tonight will be my last night of cram class w/ Kaplan. The rest of studies will be solo.




No worries, I'm a man w/ a master plan. I've got plans for most life pathways, except for my solo foreign travels. Its only me, a backpack (7 undies, 1 jean, 1 short, few T-shirts, 1 trousers, and 1 nice shirt), a travel book (Lonely Planet/Let's Go) and the wind. Back to my GMAT plan. I've requested one week off work so I can focus/cram all things GMAT, following week is for review, then the week after, take the GMAT. Dun-Duh-Dum~ No rest yet. Well maybe the weekend to kill a few brain cells w/ various forms of adulterated debauchery and sunburn from surfing my brains out. Yes, we still get sunburn surfing during the winter. Yes, I still surf during the winter.

I will then be all essays, all recommendation package, all transcripts, all etc, all etc. But wait~, there's more. I've scheduled for two glorious, freezing week in Europe for "On Campus Info Sessions" to the B-schools in the first two weeks of December. Hello UK (1st time), Hello France (3rd time), Hello freezing ass (countless time). If any of you in Europe are free to meet and have a few drinks, I'll get the first round of the local poison. Then it's back to SoCal, back to application deadlines for R2! Yipee~!

If I fail miserably, there's always hosting in Japan @ Club Rafael. Good thing I've maintained my dropped weight of 10 lbs. Looking to drop another 10 lbs. People are like fine wine. Which is why, let's open it up and down that baby!

Rejoice UK Supermarket Shopper...(nonMBA)

Found this article on Gizmodo Gadget website. I am a geek, so I do keep current on geeky stuff.
So for you UK based readers, you can comparison shop your heart out. Save a few pounds here, only to be spent else where. Money comes and goes, but experiences can be retold and exaggerated for a life time.

A UK company has figured out a way to keep online supermarkets as competitive as possible with mySupermarket, a website that lets you pick out items and then compare the prices for that shopping cart full of food between the four major online supermarket chains in the UK. A running total shows you the price of the goods as you choose them, directly comparing the four supermarket prices. Once you've finished shopping, pick the lowest-priced store, and with a single click mySupermarket will send your order to that supermarket's website for online checkout.

What a great idea! Now, if we could just get even one online supermarket that doesn't take a one-way trip down the road to financial ruin here in the US, someday we could get started on something like this. Maybe online supermarkets are unsuccessful in the US because of the distances involved. Or maybe it's their super-slim profit margins. –- Charlie White

Kid's got poetry potential...(nonMBA)

As you may noticed, I enjoy soulful writing (poetry) like most people and I have been known to write a few "bad ones" myself. Yet this commercial...yes, it's stage but still tugs at the soul. I present for your soulful viewing pleasure.

Happy anniversary...to me

Today is Friday the 13th. Dun-da-dum~. This superstitious day also marks an anniversary for me. A nine year relationship...with my employer; The University of California, Irvine. Wow~ how time drags by while working for the State, in the public sector. It's a stable environment, unfortunately, too stable. Everyone stays put and set up for retirement, so advancement is very slow. I'm ready for a change, hence B-school in Europe will recharge my ambitions and rejuvenate my aspirations.

Side note, studying for GMAT is taking another back burner. Last weekend's wedding sucked most of my study time and this weekend is my nephew's wedding will suck even more of my study time. This is really testing my self displine. I am going to try ... will get at least two hours for studying today, on Friday. Yeah, yipee~! I'm also amazed that I'm still able to wake up for my morning run. Although not every morning, but just enough to keep me wanting more. Three to four weeks is the magic number to develop any activity into a habit. I'm aiming to create this new healthy habit.

Since most of you readers have experiences w/ GMAT, or other standarized tests, you'll appreciate these pictures.








What's the issue?? It makes sense.


















Again, what's the problem? The logic is correct!











S/he did find X.













The instructions did say expand.















This sums it up correctly!

Curious about what goes through the minds of B-school Deans?

If you were ever curious to what goes through the mind of a Business School dean...Well tonight is your lucky night. I found this blog from two (yes, not just one, but two) Deans and of course an Editor from a reputable business newspaper.

Side note, I tried really, REALLY hard to stuyd tonight, but it was a complete wash out. Too many family members are arriving home for my nephew's wedding this Saturday. At least I tried.

Good night, I got an overtime workday coming up tomorrow and the next day. Yeah...lots of fun. Talk'ing geek language and stuff. yeah...very exciting.

Why bother w/ a MBA when I can Host...

What have I been think?? Why have I been bothering going through the hassle and pain of getting into an European B-school, while I could earn over $100,000 a month hosting in Japan!! Yes..ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND. View this video report from Reuter's Oddly Enough; Host w/ the most.

Lady's night is every night at Club Rafael, a Japanese host club, where men make a mint making women feel special. Patron Yuka will pay about $13,000 for champagne and the services of Manato, the top host at Club Rafael. Manato, whose 25th birthday is the cause for the bubbly, is one of thousands of young men who can earn over $100,000 a month, almost entirely on commissions from drinks and the kindness of strangers.

Over $100,000 a month?? OK, change in plans. Toss the freak'n GMAT book, screw the essays, transcripts, recommendations, and pick up Japanese language book. Good thing I studied Japanese for a year back in college. Lets not forget a plane ticket to Japan. OK. Now I have a new goal, have list of action points w/ milestones. Lets get going! Gambatte Yo!!!

How much longer...(nonMBA)

How much longer...
When can I...
How much longer am I to wait
When can I spread my wings

I bear the burden of my family
the worries of my life
I feel the emptiness of my heart
the emptiness of my father's passing
the weight of his promise

I don't know how much longer

How much longer am I to bear
When can I spread my wings
to feel the wind through my hair
to breath in the air above my worries
the worries of my life
to breath in the air above my burdens
the burdens of my life

I don't know how to say it
express the emptiness of my heart
the sadness within my soul
the guilt of my dreams

If I close my eyes
can I turn my heart
can I close my soul
to stop my dreams

How much longer am I to wait
When can I spread my wings

How much longer
To spread my wings

Study break from GMAT studies...

I really, REALLY, REALLY don't recommend studying for GMAT and applying for B-school at the same time! How I got myself into this predicament?? Earlier in the year, January 2006, I was on track studying for the GMAT. After spending all of December 2005 studying on my own, I realized I need professional help. Through the recommendations of friends, colleagues, I went w/ Kaplan and paid their $$$ fees. Half way through, my father's cancer had worsen. He would be admitted into the hospital for 2-3 weeks, be released and 2 weeks later, would be re-admitted again. He's 87 years old and does not know English. My family would do 24 hour bed side attendance. I usually pull 4 -6 hours a day during the weekdays, and half days on weekends. This was my schedule.

Although I did read up and research thoroughly the European B-schools and attend the MBA fairs, I could not muster the discipline to study the GMAT while bed-side to my dad in the hospital. With my father's deteriorating health, I didn't think he would survive through the calendar year. After one month of getting the run around, I was able to freeze my Kaplan account. Two months later, my father passed. Having accepted my father's dying wish of me "stay close by and watch over mother," I moved back home. This was my fifth time moving in three years.

My summer months were spent getting reacquainted w/ the "joys and blessings" of living back home w/ mother, two nieces, and my inherited/god son. I kissed my single life and bachelor adventures good bye..."buh-bye." I did finish up a second professional certificate and celebrated w/ an one week drinking festival, which I won't recommending again. Well unless I'm on vacation.

Now I'm here...writing/editing essays, gathering recommenders, getting official transcripts, working a full work week, and putting in 2-4 hours of GMAT studying each day. Except Thursday and Friday. -Tvu does need some break. After all this work to get myself into an European B-School, I think...know the MBA program will be easier. A nice vacation from myself and for me to spread my wings again. With the frequent flight back home.