Day# 21 - Week iii - 2010

“The effects of elevation tree cover and fire on ant populations in a pinyonjuniper dominated watershed”

Some things don't make much sense. Most emails don't. Just as you can see from one phishing email that I got to my Booth email. According to the spam, I am the author of above paper.

But what's more stunning is how sometimes faint stories from the far past find themselves resuscitated in your mind out of the blue. One of these stories comes from my childhood friend RC. He once told me the story he heard about a man who'd - amongst other magical tales - would leave his head at the barbershop and go out for a walk only to come back and pick it up later. Not sure how much of this is true or just a fragment of RC's dad's imagination. Who knows? In any case, the man in the story is Dahesh.

Prepare to be disturbed

It all started when I was reading something about a famous chess player called Capablanca. In that article, I came across the name of another famous master called Siegbert Tarrasch. The last name Tarrasch made me think of all the Lebanese last names that have transformed, i.e. Westernized, over time. Also made me think of all the Jewish names that resemble Lebanese names (Shapiro ~ Shbaro; Safra; Lati; etc.) I then decided to look Tarrasch up, just when the word Dahesh popped into my mind.

Now the most intreseting thing about Dr. Dahesh.. is his name - and his mysterious life. I looked the name up not expecting to find much and I was wrong. A legend, a homeless museum and a controversial collection, not to mention the mysterious miracles. Today, I learned a lot about my past.

Dahesh means "the one that amazes"... no shit.

For those of you who dare to read on, the testimonies are much, much  scarier. Prepare to be disturbed.

Day# 20 - Week iii - 2010

Not so many new things today.

I cooked my favorite Carbonara with some cuts of beef to counter the lack of bacon. It still tasted fantastic though. I also don't do it with Spaghetti as shown here to the right. I do it with penne to give it more volume and less sliminess...

The shiitake mushrooms certainly were a good touch there.

On another side, I enjoyed lounging it in our Internet Lounge up on the 48th floor of my building where we have a nice view along with a wide free coffee selection ranging from Kenya to Costa Rica to French Roast. That's a nice find to fill my lazy afternoons.

Day# 19 - Week iii - 2010

I was feeling really down tonight.

Good thing I had a meeting with the boyz (AH, AC, CB, CV, TK) at E&C to discuss important matters: where to go on Spring Break.

After many random ramblings, jokes and fou-rire's, we ended up landing on Riviera Maya - the Mayan Riviera. That's where Cancun is, but not quite. Because Cancun is just a sloppy (semi-destroyed from the hurricane) town and the other beach towns in that region are quite fab.

So now it's up to CV who came up with the suggestion to research the idea and confirm its merit.

Day# 18 - Week iii - 2010

Boring Admin

Yes. The things you do because you have to. They are meaningful fillers that add no emotional value to your life. Not directly at least. You do them because job is to money, what they are to your life.

This time I did one for my dad. I wrote a new letter to the U.S. embassy in Beirut for him, inquiring on the status of his visa renewal application. His name seems to be close to some terrorist's name or something, so he needs a few more levels of clearance issued only from D.C. Or the department of state is just the most inefficient, under-staffed and under-financed department of them all, as an ex-government agent friend of mine had told me. So this may take a while...

On a brighter side, I reordered a few missing accessories for my new humidor: the top aerator tray, a key, a humidor solution and a solid marble ashtray. I am so good to me.

Day# 17 - Week iii - 2010

As per Invictus, it was mixed feelings that we were left with.

On the one hand, it is a great story, and even more so since it is a true story. On the other though, it is just striking how few lines Matt Damon had in the movie. How can they portray such great leadership through a character that doesn't have a single line that goes for more than 10 words? Most of the movie, the rugby team captain is silent and thoughtful like the observer watching the movie. Almost letting the narrator inside your head take charge of doing real-time analysis, just like when you are at a museum staring at a painting with a thousand colors.

On the opposite end, the Mendela character, he was slightly better portrayed (and obviously this was a story about his achievement to unite an ethnically split country) so he got more lines to recite... that said, Freeman added huge presence and charisma to the role not only because he looks so much like Mendela (and I used to joke about that all the time), but also because Freeman knew how much of himself to put in that role, and not a tiny bit more.

Overall, a 4.5 / 5 on the story and the screenplay, but maybe a 3 / 5 on the script that made the film look more like a documentary that a movie about leadership.

Day# 16 - Week iii - 2010

The day of the papers

When I was 12, I wrote my first short novel. I did it because I had what I call IOS, or "Information Overflow Syndrom". Your brain is swirling in a hurricane of ideas that your eyes absorbed reading and researching and listening to a million bits of information floating around you in sound bites, encyclopedias and books. Then storing them all in your mind becomes so intolerable that you just have to spill the beans out. And out they come like a torrent that was just waiting to burst through a cracking dam. Intelligence gives them form and structure as it connects them into a literary form. Then some critique will call it genius.

Today I spent about 4 hours - at least - going through WSJ papers from last week and this weekend, looking for bits and pieces of information and/or events that could b used to build the pieces of the puzzle in my new novel. For the last five years, I have been definitely exposed to a much different sets of information, opinions and experiences. My brain has been absorbing by and large a different type of information and learning to link events and information in a different paradigms far from detective novels and teen adventure books. I was more being formatted to the tune of an Economist and a WSJ subscription, while being on the mailing list of no less than 10 other newsletters, news aggregators and other public information (i.e. web bites).

My cork board is now full and (I think) ready to start the process of lying the foundations of the plot and space-time around which the story will take place. The rest is details. A ton of details...

Before going to bed, I just read something that I fondly agree with. Something you can't explain to somebody who can't relate to; something you don't have to explain in the opposite case.
"Behind every successful man, there's an untold pain in his heart" - Bill Jacobs.

Day# 15 - Week iii - 2010

Innovating Innovation

I love my school's lunch 'n learns. Free food for life and free fodder for thought.

That Friday, between my two classes of New Venture Strategy and Network Structures of Effective Management, I attended a Lunch'n Learn about re-thinking the innovation process.  A pretty daring title for a quick lunch on a slow Friday on campus.

Let me recapitulate the lessons:
- First, there was the classic innovation process: ideate, engineer, roll-out;
- Then came Robert G. Cooper - when I was about 4 years old and said "let there be Stage-Gate®";
- Later on, came Todd and MacGrath to give us PACE (Product and Cycle-Time Excellence). Yada yada yada yada... and PACE that was pretty much like Stage-Gate® 2.0... died.

... and so this is how we got the new and improved versions of the Stage-Gate® Process after criticism crept up on Cooper. He took his process about a decade or so later and made it into 3 versions. Quite interesting. The full one was called Stage-Gate® Classic - for serious companies - the faster one was called Stage-Gate® Xpress - for companies who want to do tings a bit faster. And Stage-Gate® Lite, which is also the same only the "stages" and "gates" are stacked one on top of the other to make only 3 compact stages and 2 gates. Speed. The addiction of the 20th century.

And then Dr. Middlebrooks broke it to us to give us a new way to do things. It was pretty much the same, only with a different approach to ideation - not changing the process itself, but just eliminating the initial stages that only focused on validating the idea. He suggested to spend about 10 hours with customers uncovering their needs - the real source of ideas.

Not a breakthrough, but maybe something to keep in mind when deciding on developing a new product or service. .... dot dot dot.. I can't think anymore. My girlie just served my lips a piece of chocolate chip cookie dunked in 2% milk. Train of thoughts immediately destroyed.

Cuban Crafters - Delivered

I forgot to mention that I just got my new humidor with a stylish Birdseye maple burl wood exterior, trim and a matching wood inlay and some 14 Nicaraguan puros rolled in Miami's atelier by Cuban crafters... yet some of the finest rolls I have ever had. My own gift to myself for my birthday. Thank me very much.

Day# 14 - Week ii - 2010

The Only Start-Up Book You Will Ever Need. Hopefully.

 
Some memories just fade away if you don't seize them. They have such an ability to escape our human hard drives due to their magnificent uselessness.

On the 13th day of January, I actually conducted for ITP interviews for first year students at school. Some way to give others gifts on my birthdate.


Now try to remind me what I did on the 14th and the only thing that comes to mind is a book.

I only remember stopping by the Gleacher bookstore to look for a coursepack (that I didn't find) and ended up buying another book.

"The only start-up book you'll ever need".

Why do we buy such books?

Simple. Because we hope this would be the last book we'd ever need before we go out there and build the company that will make us successful and take us to financial independence.

Of course. This is partially true... no wanna-be entrepreneur wants to start his busines to reach financial independence. I mean, yes, that's on the list. But true entrepreneurs are ambitious, energetic beings with inflated egos and ears that only listen to their own inner voice.

They are unable to work for others because they simply almost always disagree with their superiors and think they have a better or smarter way of doing things. Entrepreneurship is the process by which they naturally break away from the binding chains of a job to pursue a free-er path into the unknown - into a tomorrow that mostly depends on what they have in store for destiny, and for what destiny is willing to give them back in return for that.

Now that, my dear nameless readers, is freedom. You are as free as your ability to make decisions for yourself.

Day# 13 - Week ii - 2010

Happy 28th. Bring it on 29.

I grew older today. You don't get to be the same age twice.

That said, with enough heart and mind, you can be a person of all ages at the same time. And a person with all ages simply has no age. But rather a straight flush of identities. A card for all times.

So I guess that simply was my new thing for the day. No sweat.
To celebrate, of course I had a Cuban cigar with CB, a fine English friend of mine. And to follow up on that, I hit up a few good friends to have a few brews with me at our favorite downtown joint, E&C.

My 28th year was a happy and successful one.

What does 29 have in store for me?
What do I have for 29?

Cards please, Mr. dealer.

Day# 12 - Week ii - 2010

Growin' into a ramblin' man


I haven't done anything remarkably new today.

Except for my halloumi and bacon sandwich for dinner.
But I also signed up for a new class (Network Structures of Effective Mgmt). I also worked late on the night of my birthday - counter intuitively to most people. Not to me though. Does that count?

Today I won a mock negotiation in class for a settlement case where I was the plaintiff. I had the defendant pay $3.25M. The highest score for that case ever.

Happy working birthday to me.

This is one serious guy, she said. Such a ramblin' man.

Day# 11 - Week ii - 2010

When being late pays off

We were late to return the car to MIA's Dollar Rent a Car agency by 1:25 min. They charged us 44$ for a day rental and 2 x 8$ for every hour we were late (2 hours rounding up). Why? Because Dollar Rent A Car is to MIA what downtown Beirut is to BEY - what Wall Street is to Central Park - what Navy Pier is to Lincoln Park. NOT CLOSE!

Why were we late though? Because we were filling the GMC up up to 7/8th - like we got it!
Why didn't fill it up earlier? Because I had to come by the hotel again and pick up a belt I'd forgotten in the hotel room.
Why didn't we pick it up sooner? Because we were having lunch on ocean drive, in one of Google's "best pork sandwiches in Miami".

That place is queer as folk. And I mean it. The pink beetle you see in the picture does exist! We sat outside until a gay waiter came to take our order in the slowest manner to serve us after 35 minutes. A sleazy pork sandwich and a sleazier bucket of buffalo shrimps. Weird combination. And the sweet fried potatoes he suggested were soggy and mushy as... meh. You get my drift.

In any case, after we got to Terminal E in MIA and realized we had missed our plane by being pushed off the confirmation list for that flight, I begged an attendant to put us on a different flight for no charge. My girlfriend intelligently suggested we try a direct flight. After a gazillion button were pressed on her 1970 keyboard (sitting next to the oldest printer in computer hardware history), she said you're good to go for the next direct flight to CHI.

Little did she know that her late flight that was supposed to take us to DC to connect with another to CHI was no good for us. Since that flight was late, we would already miss our connection in DC. So the direct flight was our only hope. 5 hours later, we were in CHI ahead of the original schedule had we taken a connection flight thru DC!

Day# 10 - Week ii - 2010

Miami - when it rains, it pours

So by Sunday, we realized that bad weather doesn't last long in Miami. Although it was raining and cold (44 F for Miami is cold), a liquor store owner (reliable source?) confirmed to us that this is the kind of weather you see once every 50 years in South Beach.

We were inclined to believe the man. So we decided to rent a car after we realized that it would only cost 44$ for a Dodge Charger - vrrroooommmm! - and that we could return it to the airport, immediately saving on our 45$ ride from the hotel to MIA. Since it was my "birthday weekend", we got an upgrade to a schweet Acadia GMC - silver with black leather interior. The tank was 7/8th full though, one of Dollar's many exquisite tricks to rip you off.

 So we took off and started driving north on Collins Avenue all the way to Aventura blvd. where lied the famous Aventura Mall.

What a life changing experience. Not. Just another mall... we didn't last more than 30 minutes before we realized that we should take Dexter's advice and start looking for what South Beach is known for: pork sandwiches and Cuban food.

A few Google searches yielded a first address. So off we drove all the way (about 30 min believe it or not) down i95 to Papo Llega Y Pon.
As you can imagine, it was in Miami's ghetto town. Very ghetto. On a Sunday afternoon, around 4:00, we made it there, just to find the joint was closed on Sundays. Little did fate know that we were the tough kind to surrender.

So we looked up the next best alternative. Versailles Restaurant - a weird name for one of the best pork sandwiches and Cuban restaurants at the same time - was on 8th and 36th avenue. So we drove for another 30 minutes until I ran into the holly grail: on 7th and 36th Ave. a fairly large building with a big sign that said Cuban Crafters Cigars caught my eye immediately slowing my car.

Pulled over pretending to my girlfriend I just want to ask for directions, only to come out later with a tab of 134$, a free cigar, a big humidor and 15 cigars. One of my best cigar experiences to date. It will be a long while before I forget that place. Wow...

Then with our directions we went out and drove down to Versailles where we had some crazy awesome Cuban food for very cheap! The place was crowded and there was a 25 min line anytime you walked into the place, not to mention another massive line for take-away. And so dinner happened - in magnificent Cuban tradition: fried cassava yuca for appetizers (along with my girlfriend's healthy green salad with French (not-so-healthy) dressing; and one classic Cuban sampler for me and another Criollo sampler for my g/f. What a royal feast!

Day# 9 - Week ii - 2010

Rain on me, Miami...

Let me count the ways that day carried new things and first-times.

- Wake up to the creeping noise of a rainy morning in Miami
- Listen to the rain crackle into the pool right outside my hotel room window
- Have lunch on FOXCAFE, a cafe-trottoire on Ocean Dr.
- Sip on the largest margarita drink ever
- Watch a movie on a rainy afternoon in South Beach's only movie theater
- Finish Californication Season 1 - in a Miami hotel room!

Day# 8 - Week ii - 2010

Bienvenido a Miami!

So for the 8th day of 2010, we had tickets to Miami and this is how we left cold and snowy Chicago and flew by night to Miami - which was cool and rainy! Or at least so was the weather forecast.

Of course, it is our first time here in South Beach and we had no expectations. It's just a weekend getaway so I could celebrate my birthday also, a bit ahead of the actual date... but hey - can't blame me for trying to have some fun.

Mojito!

Day# 7 - Week i - 2010

Blue Gold

I was at home today as it was raining in Paris, Chicago and, sadly, not too warm in Miami. Wondering what to do with my existence, I stumbled over my Netflix's long "Instant Queue". One of the documentaries that I had decided to see was about Blue Gold: sweet water, in layman terms. It was entitled Blue Gold: World Water Wars.

If you think that "An Inconvenient Truth" is maybe scary, this one will seriously make you think and think and think - especially everytime you fill your glass to drink or open the tap to let water run, no matter how noble or superfluous the reason. To all those of you who thought that the Quantum of Solace was just a movie about Bond's vengeful personality and what he could do to an entire population, well think again - and try to see the movie again to remember what the "bad guys" were up to: buying an entire country's water supply. Fact, not fiction, it turns out...

This documentary was not only an eye opener for me, but also a well of ideas for a future project that I am yet to undertake. The pieces are falling together. I can already smell those blue ideas floating around in the back of my writer's mind.

Day# 6 - Week i - 2010

Google + Sites + Checkout

On day 6, Jan 6th 2010, I was a little bit frustrated with the speed at which my project to start a company in Beirut was going. So I decided to forget about my partners for a day and start another (online) business that I had on my mind for a while.

Thus came to exist The 961 Way


All I had to do was buy the domain name from GoDaddy.com; create a Google Sites account and build a simple and working website; and prepare a Google Checkout account to be used with it later, as soon as I start adding my products.

This is all so funny. You can pretty much get a business up and running in 2 hours. The question is however what is it really that you are selling? I still have no idea what the operations and processes underlying the nice virtual window should look like. But for once, instead of doing things a la Française and getting everything planned out on the drawing board, I decided to do it the American way: trial and error. Just go to market and do it!

Let's see how that works.

Day# 5 - Week i - 2010

Donnie Darko [Director's Cut]

4.5 stars over 5.

Yesterday, strolling in front of the Dali's and Magritte's surealists designs of their lives, dreams and obsessions, nightmares, illusions and everything in between, I asked myself what would be the result if one would pursue the creation of such an "absolute reality" perspective in a book or a movie. Sometimes, life will keep something hidden in front of your eyes for so long. Until you are ready to ask the question.


My question came as described above. And the answer came in the form of a movie out of my 150 odd movie list on Netflix. I was watching Donnie Darko. A lot can be said about the movie. But less can be said and more conveyed if you had never - like me - seen this movie.

Watch it when you get the chance.

Day# 4 - Week i - 2010

The Modern Wing
An easy one this was: my girlfriend's best friend wanted to go to the Art Institute. I met her after she had been there for a couple of hours and we toured the brand new Modern Wing together. The more I looked at the line-ups of the modern wing, the faster I wanted to go back to the good old original sections of the museum.

There is something about modern that tastes like waste of time and makes me want to freak out and run away. For a long time, I will have a problem accepting that anything on canvas or which as a shape and that sits in an expo is art. I know, i know, la critique est aisee mais l'art est difficile. But there are some blasphemous creations that shouldn't even be looked by art lovers with mile deep peep hole. There.

I think I am falling for this Art Institute the more I spend time there. Especially that I can get a 50% discount for being a student and a resident of Chicago!

Day# 3 - Week i - 2010

Pirates of Penzance - by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

My girlfriend got us some tickets - scratch that. My girlfriend's boss called her a few hours before midnight on New Year's Eve. He - Bob - left a voice message "highly recommending" us Pirates of Penzance. He said that his wife who runs the Cahn Auditorium has put a couple of tickets aside for the last performance of this light opera.

So we woke up early this morning (not eager to see the play but because there was a chopper outside our window lifting some bulky A/C machines from an 18 wheeler all the way to the top of the Hyatt Regency next door - for 3 hours). And then we headed to O'Hare to pick my girlfriend's friend who was supposed to be in Chicago the night before but was delayed in Ohio. An hour later, we were there and all three of us sat through 2 and a half hours through this light comic operetta.

To conclude the evening, deep dish pizza at Bacino's in LP (cheese, spinach, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and black olives = yummmm) and of course, the famous one and only, live band karaoke at Stanley's. A good Sunday with lots of new things or things redone anew.

Day# 2 - Week i - 2010

Brunch at Sofitel

This is a good place to have a French brunch. The menu has some successes and some not-so-delicious inventions. Beware of the Scrambled Tabbouleh - since the tabbouleh there is the French-Moroccan version lush with soft semolina... enough said. Try the Eggs Benedict and the salty Ham and Gruyere Crêpe.

In any case, it was an OK experience at a fair price. Not sure it'll make it to my to-redo list - Chicago has so many things to try in a few months.

http://www.cafedesarchitectes.com/

Day# 1 - Week i - 2010

Ice Skating: 75 min of queuing in the cold for 35 min of pain on the ice


For my first trick, my girlfriend and I decided to go ice skating. Not really my very fist time. I had done this before when I was 18. But things change - and so do people, in weight and speed. My first rink was also a closed one. This one was an open air one in Millennium Park. To get in, you have to stand in line around the outdoor rink for about 75 min. The temperature? 13F (-10 C). The weather conditions? Humidity at 80% and a windchill to make it feel like its actually 10 degrees less than it is.

Your skin burns from the cold and you lose feeling in your limbs and face in 15 min. The remaining 50 min are just sheer torture. But to make it slightly better, we had hot chocolate that turned cold in no more than 5 min. And to keep us company, a line of trembling ice-skaters stood shivering with us. 75 min feels like an eternity. Only bearable because the company was not bad.

75 min go by. Feels like a slow painful day. Then skates on and off to the rink. Make sure you give the company of 4 who cut the line by sneaking in with us and behind the "bouncer" the stink eye. You line-cutters suck. Big time. Now for the baby steps on the ice. It feels weird. It's like being a toddler all over again. Rediscovering the world through your new feet: a pair of hard to balance/use skates that are the only thing separating you from crushing your bones on the ice.

And sure thing. The bigger they are the harder they fall. With my 220 lbs and 6'2", seeing me fall on my back is a spectacle. But being the performer is a whole different story. My 2nd fall was not a simple slip on the bum. It started the classic way (legs up in the air first), and then it took a turn to the worst. As I quickly grabbed the ramp to stop myself from hitting the ice hard, I unintentionally pulled myself closer to the side of the rink. A millisecond later, my left butt cheek landed on the solid side of the rink absorbing 1 G-force exercised over 220 pounds of the flying biological blurb that is me. Pain. Then I landed again on the ice. Pain again.

Sadly, the first pain was much worse than the second. I stood up and felt my soul about to rush out of my nostrils and the pain, like an electric wave, rush like a flow of energy from my left butt cheek to the hairs on my head. I couldn't scream so much it hurt. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to burn through me as my girlfriend and my friend stood stunned at the sight and waited for me to make a sound - anything that could prove to them that I was not traumatized and lost my ability to speak.

The first words that came out of my ass as I started feeling the heat of my swollen left butt cheek were: "baby... I feel my butt bone scream. You gotta grope it". I was hoping she would grope it and that I wouldn't scream of pain - the only test I could think of to test whether the bone was broken or not. She, of course, couldn't help cracking up with laughter and said: "what??" - "Just grope it baby!". She obviously didn't and I was left alone with my overwhelming pain. For the next 25 minutes.

The bottom line
 You put yourself out of your comfort zone. You walk like you would if you were 90. But you learn to control yourself and respond to new stimuli. Why else would you do anything new anyway? Surely not for the public humiliation - or the pain in the butt, literally.