where to begin?

well, some personal ego-stroking first:

- Someone posted on our class message board today that there was a picture of some of our classmates in today's Boston Globe and also that I was in the picture (see link below).

So it's not exactly how you want to be pictured in a newspaper. I caught some flak for not having my name card displayed ("you too cool for name cards?"). But we digress. The article has some quotes from some of my classmates about how what's happenin' on Wall Street is going to affect recruiting etc. And we all do look bored/concerned in that picture. In our defense it was 6-8 pm non-class seminar on "Buy-Side state of affairs". And it was a long day.

But it is not a flattering picture, that's for sure.

kondum picture in the Boston Globe

- Today was another long day at school. As part of our first semester, we have a course called "Communication for Managers". Apparently the perception is that Sloan grads dont come out of school as polished so this course. Today we had a 2h session in which my group had to give two separate impromptu speeches in front of the group. The topics are revealed 30 sec before you talk. So it is real impromptu. I liked it. I have no problem getting in front of people to speak but what I am trying to improve is thinking when I speak so that I can modify my presentation as we go along.

- I am participating in a "Stock Pitch" competition this weekend at school. My team, three strong, has to go in front of an audience and pitch our analysis of a stock that they chose for us (Dick Sporting Goods). The top 2 teams will get to represent Sloan at other contests. I am new at this but if I want a career in Investment Management this is how the interview process is going to be, so I better get used to and get good at this. We started prepping for this. Let's see how it turns out.

-My friend Sara visited Boston this weekend and we hung out on Saturday eve. It was great to spend time with her.

-Some of my teammates are calling this week "Hell Week". We have 5 HWs due, 3 presentations, and two company visits. The recruitment madness begins officially this week with Goldman Sachs visiting first on Wednesday. I am not looking forward to wearing a suit. But I have to. dang!

-I am happy to report that amidst all this madness I am keeping to my gym schedule and playing squash twice a week. And the squash is intense and am loving it. Disappointingly my eating habits have gone down the drain. We have free lunch every day and there is pizza or burritos. Not healthy. Add beer to the mix in the evenings! I started drinking at noon on Saturday and Sunday. And had 2 beers today. ahhhh, you gotto love school!

-Dont know if any of you know or heard about Long Term Capital Management (LTCM). LTCM was the superstar hedge fund run by former Salomon Brothers and MIT/Harvard Nobel Prize winning economists in the mid 90S. They returned 400% cummulative in 4 years and then went on to bring Wall Street to it's knees in 1998. Before this month, that was the biggest catastrophe in the past 20 years. Anyway, last wednesday one of the big players from LTCM (Eric Rosenfeld) was at Sloan addressing us. It was cool to listen to this guy speak. He and LTCM are the subject of a cool book called "When Genius Fails" which every Finance person has read. I had read before coming to Sloan and it was great to hear this guy speak in person.

He had great insights into trading and what needs to be done in today's markets.

Allrite kids, I have a 8:30 am Accounting class tomm.

later