Entries from January 2008 ↓

Getting a SlingBox was simply the best purchase decision I made in the last 3 months, especially as a frequent traveler. Technically it’s a gift for Henry but I seem to be reaping the rewards (typical Sandy gift buying strategy). Now that it’s connected to his DVR in New York, I can catch up on Project Runaway and Top Chef or watch a football game from anywhere with an internet connection… pretty sweet eh?

Once before Henry has gotten the mobile SlingPlayer working on his Samsung BlackJack, but no longer since the trial expired and it costs $29.99 - shame on Sling Media.

In fact, I look forward to the day we don’t even need to stream from home and take up unnecessary bandwidth. Instead we’d just stream from a central server or even peer-to-peer to get better quality.

One day I was talking to Peter at Prism Venture about how he came to pick out Justin and I from the resumes he received through the MIT Externship Program. I believe it when Bong said they got a ton of applications for the externship since Venture Capital is the industry du jour amongst MBA’s and I couldn’t imagine an investment sector with wider appeal than consumer internet.

He said:

1) He wanted to find students with engineering/computer science backgrounds because yadda yadda… Sounds reasonable enough.
2) He looked favorably on consulting and startup experience: one to be presentable and ramp up in a short period of time. Two… startup experience is obviously directly related to a fund investing in early stage companies.
3) He filtered the remaining candidates by checking them out on FaceBook, LinkedIn, etc. Power users: good. No friends: bad. You’d be surprised at how many people didn’t even have a FaceBook account…

Thus, time spent on Facebook petting my elephant Kokiri… hey at least it got me this internship!

First semester of bschool zipped by in the blink of an eye. Right now I am on a plane from Taipei to San Francisco to meet up with Henry and spend New Years with my friends from Berkeley. The terrible twitch in my eye has prevailed throughout my visit to Taiwan despite ample sleep and intake of B-complex vitamins. The high strung pace of first semester lingers in the muscles of my eye, as if I needed any more reminder that interviews are right around the corner.

The High-School Years

Last night I attended my 10 year high-school reunion. It’s quite incredible how people I haven’t seen for a decade some how are still the same as ever. It was as if coming back from a really long summer vacation. I dare not think about all the things I wish I had the courage, discipline, and foresight to do back when I was 18. Instead I review my new favorite concept of sunk cost in my head and focus on what lies ahead. I regret not maintaining better contact with some of these people, others I am grateful they are still in my life.

The College Years

Now I’m retracing my steps from Taiwan to the Bay Area to see those precious college buddies. Then, to LA to do an externship at Prism VentureWork for three weeks before finally head back to Boston. I have a feeling that’s exactly when my eyes will rest in peace.