Oooh, Awkward . . . .

I'm sitting in Sosnoff Lounge at Stern, which is this quasi-futuristic airport waiting room space. It's Friday, usually a slow day on campus, and a few people are setting up cameras for a photo shoot. In walks a female model, and the photographer introduces her to a guy who will be playing "her boyfriend." It was a very funny moment as these two fake lovebirds meet for some fancy Stern marketing materials. Neither of them look much like students.

Update: They are actually Stern undergraduates. That makes more sense -- everyone knows business school girls aren't actually that hot.

Update 2: I just signed a photo release and had my pic snapped a bunch of times. Now I might be in the undergraduate brochure.

Content Overload

So, why haven't I posted anything recently, and why have my ideas for drafts been overflowing? It's not that I don't have the time (I do) or that I'm using my time ineffectively (okay, maybe I am), it's because I have been completely overloaded with content of all types that I think my brain is on the verge of shutting down.

Have you ever thought about how much content is out there? I mean, really, really thought about it? Take ESPN. ESPN runs six networks now, included one dedicated to 24-hour sporting news. Unfortunately, there's not too much going on right now (and especially last week). The NBA was shut down for All-Star Week (or the Hip-Hop Woodstock, depending on your point of view). As an aside, this is one of my favorite stories from that weekend. What exactly does $81,000 in cash look like? Does Louis Vuitton make a wallet big enough for all that scrilla? And who really needs to spend $81,000 at a strip club, especially an NFL player who could probably get it for free?

To keep up with the frantic pace of 24-hour reporting, I think ESPN resorted to manufacturing stories. Seriously, leading off SportsCenter with a story about Sylvester Stallone and his suspected steroid use? That's all they could come up with?

It's not just television, either: content has exploded on the Internet, and so have the ways to capture this content. First bookmarking was good enough. Then came XML, RSS, feed burner and del.ic.ious. Last week, I was skimming a few of the blogs I frequent, and they all contained links to more blogs, which contained links to other blogs and articles, which contained, well, you get the point. Do people actually read all this stuff?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I couldn't imagine it any other way. It's kind of like thinking about how in the world you would meet up with friends before cell phones and everything else. The wife and I were relatively out of touch last weekend, staying in a small town in Vermont with no internet connectivity (I didn't even bring my laptop, mainly because I wanted to stay as far away from school as possible, midterms be damned). While in Vermont, we missed MAJOR news stores, like Britney shaving her head. However, by the time we got back to digital civilization, it wasn't a story anymore. Luckily for us, she proceeded on her merry-go-round tour of rehab centers, so she's back in the limelight again, and I'm caught up with the world.

Wait, I'm not caught up anymore. In the 10 minutes it took to write this, I'm sure something major has happened, or has been rehashed, or has been completely made up, like the young NYU Republican's Find the Immigrant game, or the rats in the KFC/Taco Bell in the West Village, or the guy that broke down his neighbor's door to look for a girl, instead finding his neighbor watching porn, or . . .

On second thought, maybe the news doesn't need to make up stories. I just saw this headline on CNN: Senior Citizen in Costa Rica Kills Mugger with Bare Hands.

Quote of the Day

Sadly, for my initial quote of the day, I'm using Starbucks as a source. I don't frequent Starbucks, but every once in a while I grab a quick coffee and take in the "atmosphere." The two Starbucks I go to -- at Christopher and 7th and right by Washington Square -- have absolutely afwul atmosphere. The Christopher location was probably a cool restaurant at some point, a restaurant which has long been pushed out by Starbuck's mission of global dominance. Each morning that I visit, there is a guy there who looks like a certain Robert Van Winkle (who may be better known as Vanilla Ice). I'm not sure what he is doing, but in my story about the guy, Starbucks is his office. Anyway, the atmosphere at this Starbucks feels forced: the space is too big, the tables too random and the lack of couches too apparent.

The Washington Square Starbucks, on the other hand, has plenty of room to lounge (or study, since it is smack dab in the middle of NYU's territory). I've never been to this location when the line was less than 15 people, and on a recent visit, the line streched about 45 people. So long, in fact, that one of the cashiers donned some headphones and started taking orders well in advance of the customer's arrival at the registers (I'm not sure if this was initiative or standard practice, but it was a welcome attempt at shortening the wait). Though the atmosphere of this Starbucks is better, what makes it absolutely unbearable are the undergraduates that see Starbucks as a sort of daytime club, a place to see and be seen. In fact, while I was waiting in a 45-person line, I looked around and found perhaps my favorite "New Yorker" since I moved here. He was a college student, probably 20 or 21, and in the appropiately trendy way, he was wearing a bunch of layered shirts (3? 4? Admittedly, it was cold, but he had way too many collars to pop), two or three chains around his neck, perfectly torn jeans, some retro sneakers and disheleveled frosted spikey hair (a la Ryan Seacrest in the early Idols). But my favorite part of the look, the part that caused me to call my wife to make fun of him, was his face.

Yes, this young man was whipping out Blue Steel. Constantly. And trying to impress the ladies with his flawless turning ability. It was an amazing moment in my life.

Now, let me get to that quote I've been saving. The quote was on my cup the day I ran into Mr. Blue Steel. Normally, these "The Way I See It" quotes are some useless drivel from some Starbucks customer somewhere who thinks we need to do more to save the environment, or be nicer to people, or something else that I don't really agree with. But this quote was different. It was from someone of whom I have heard -- the former lead singer of Soul Coughing, at that. And it was a quote with which I agree:

The Way I See It #158
"It's tragic the way extremists co-opt the notion of God, and that hipsters and artists reject spirituality out of hand. I don't have a fixed idea of God. But I feel that it's us--the messed-up, the half-crazy, the burning, the questing--that need God, a lot more than the goody-two-shoes do."--Mike Doughty, Musician

At the newly-turned age of 27, I'm still working on my definition of God and spirituality. I believe in higher power, but I make fun of my share of the "Oh My, the Lord has truly healed me!" believers. I believe the best way for some to find their spirituality is to quest for it, to discover it for oneself, and to discover it within oneself.

The Wal-Mart MBA

Business is about reality. But business school is about theory. At least, it is supposed to be about theory. Instead, I've come to realize that you can answer every question in business school the same way: "It depends."

What does it depend upon? What you are studying at the time. What is going on in business at that time. And most importantly, what case you are reading (or have read in the past in another class and are able to steal the teacher's learning points). A few companies are consistently cited as examples of stellar companies, but there is always the "It" company of the moment. For years, the "It" company was General Electric. Everyone loved GE and loved Jack Welch. Later in the 90s, I'm sure it was a tech company of some sort, an Intel or Microsoft. Now, that company is Wal-Mart.

I have learned about Wal-Mart's corporate strategy, marketing strategy, supply chain strategy and financial strategy. It seems that Wal-Mart can be an acceptable example for anything the professor throws at you. Operational efficiency. Culture. Management and motivation. Innovation. Marketing. Success. Even labor issues, bad politics, corporate malfeasance, environmental indifference and sociological implications. Like its superstores, Wal-Mart has it all.

Now, we still talk about other great companies: for example, Lincoln Electric, the subject of a recent case, has been around since the late 1800s and was originally the subject of a HBS Case in the 1920s. GE gets mentioned occasionally, much less than an American Express or Apple these days (and I'm sure the recent flap over Home Depot's Bob Nardelli's severance package--he was a Welch acolyte--doesn't help), but isn't there a better company out there to study than Wal-Mart?

For every strength elucidated by a professor, there's a counter argument. Wal-Mart represents both the Americanization and un-Americanization of America. It represents the good and the bad of big business. It does so much, but it doesn't do nearly enough. It's definitely the most divisive company I've discussed here at school -- so much so that entire class sections (like one week of marketing) have been hijacked by a specific, Maine-educated individual who must believe that it is his mission to inform us all that Wal-Mart is the enemy, no matter which battle we are fighting.

And you know what? I don't care. I'm paying for a Wal-Mart MBA right now, and I don't care one bit about Wal-Mart. I just hope there's not a smiley face on my diploma.

Things I learned while watching the Today Show.

1. During the coldest week of the year, resort advertisers are getting meaner. Scottsdale, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands . . . these are the images on my screen at 8:17 am when it is 11 degrees outside here.

2. Natalie isn't the most professional -- she laughs during stories about breast augmentation, and she flashed the first lady during a fashion show.

3. Meridith might be a lush. The crew was talking about perfect dishes on a cold day--stew, vegtable soup, biscuits--and Meridith throws cocktails into the mix. On a morning show. Cocktails. Maybe I should spike my espresso.

Sleep Talking

My wife talks in her sleep. Not all the time; just occasionally - and especially after she's been asleep for an hour. Last night, I stayed up reading after she went to sleep. Dead asleep, she knows when I turn off the light, and that's her cue to start talking.

"Nonny Nonny, turn off the light, turn off the light, turn off the light."

(For some reason, she always says this three times).

Then, she rolls over to give me a kiss and reposition, and this is when the fun starts. She kept mumbling something, so I said "nugget" to see if she would repeat it. Yup. Same with "cafe macchiato."

Then she actually started making sense. She told me not to worry. I said, "worry about what?" She said, "don't worry, it's under control - I have a secret security team."

I'm glad my wife dreams about secret security teams.