Intercultural tidbit

I just happened to write down today's date on a (unfortunate) bill I just paid:

08.08.08

In Chinese, that's 八八八 (bā bā bā). And eight is a very lucky number in China.

So I guess that it is not merely coincidence that the Chinese olympic games start today.

Until the end of the MBA

I wish I could be in Montreal on the 26th

And see this concert:

Pat Bergeson

26 Jun 2008, 20:00
Montreal Jazz Festival

With Annie sellick and the Hot Club of nashville featuring Richard smith, Aron Till and Charlie Chadwick and Pat bergeson Opening for Leonard cohen

I just found out about Pat through the Seydel newsletter. Besides being an extraordinary harmonica player, he is also a great guitar player, guitar being his main instrument. And he is opening for Leonard Cohen, which also should be quite interesting.

But I went to Canada during the wrong season for music festivals, definetely.

Smells like shipbuilding

The new Mannheim Business School rooms in N2 still smell a bit after paint. This is a smell I am very familiar with, having spent months inspecting paint jobs in the building of the Messidor bulk carrier (picture)in Nantong, China. This smell actually reminds me of a very interesting phase of my life.
The other smells that evokes similar memories is the smell of steel grinding and welding. But I don't expect to find these smells in the business school

Another beer reference

I myself don't drink beer, but it is always interesting to get such a message from the course coordination:

Due to the size the class will be divided into two groups on Tuesday and Wednesday. While group 1 will have the PC Exercise on Tuesday and the Beer Game on Wednesday, group 2 will have the Beer Game on Tuesday and the PC Exercise on Wednesday.

Opportunity cost

This is what I call the real opportunity cost of living far away from my family:



Last time I saw Henrique, my nephew, he was a new born baby who had just undergone heart surgery. Now, after another surgery in January, he is really fine, as you all can surely see.
And here is another picture of Henrique which I put online several months ago.
Yes, I really hope I can make it to Brazil after the MBA.
BTW, I was listening to all this through skype, while my sister was filming. I felt strangely close. Technology helps a lot.

Time zones

Just figured out that the blog was still in Toronto.
But I changed the time zone to Berlin, publishing times are right now.
The question is: when am I going to change time zones again and which one will be the next?

Good moment for Brazil?

After spending the whole day dealing with simulation data about Brazil, here are two positive hard facts about my country's economy:

1. The stock exchange reached it's highest level ever. The Bovespa closed today at 72766 points.
2. The dollar is at its lowest level since soon after the Real has been floated, nine years ago, at R$ 1,642.

Let's hope this trickles down to better employment levels and standards of living.

MBA turns 100 years old

That's a lot of candles to blow.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0fdb78d4-03e5-11dd-b28b-000077b07658.html

Risk management and the 3 pigs tale

As promised on twitter, here the fairy tale from another point of view.

The three little pigs told their parents that they wanted to move out. The parents, being caring as they should, wanted to be sure that their piglets knew what adventures they were facing.
The pig parents were glad to see that their piglets identified the main risk out in the woods correctly: the big bad wolf. He certainly was a big risk, as the probability of an encounter was high, and the consequences of such encounter serious, probably leading to death.
The piglets presented their risk management plans.
The first one decided to build a wolf-proof house made of bricks and mortar. This should be enough to neutralize the risk. But, additionally, he bought a rifle. Being a good handyman, he certainly knew how to handle a gun and an encounter with the wolf would be a short-lived occasion.
The second pig decided to build a less expensive house with timber and wood. He knew his house was not too strong and, in an attempt to divert the risk, he signaled the surroundings of his home with signs and directions to Little Red Hood's granny's house. Maybe not very ethical, but, after all, he IS a pig.
The third little pig was nature loving and a pacifist. He built a lightweight, environmentally optimized living space out of straw and some natural fibers from organic extraction out of Venezuela. He believed in dialog, and set up a solar powered information kiosk which provided well researched information based on the latest researches on the benefits of vegetarian diets. Using the latest neurolinguistics approach, he convincingly presented the hazards of the ingestion of pig meat.

Well, you know the rest of the story. This version of this fairy tale was presented to us by our Services Management teacher, Barry Cross. I added my touch here and there, it was quite amusing.

Formal rules or code of honour

Probably all business schools ask their students to sign a code honour or conduct during the first days. What you usually agree to is that you will be honest, doing your best efforts for the course and only submit materials for grading which are a result of your "unaided efforts". Bottom line: thou shalt not cheat.
I've seen schools where the code of honour is taken extremely seriously. Perpetrators often identify themselves and submit to their peers' trial and punishment. Conscience and group commitment play an important role here. In such schools, exams are taken without supervision and individual specific situations are dealt with on a case by case basis, assuming that the students have acted according to the code of conduct.
On the other hand, all schools have formal rules, like consequences for deadlines not met. Such rules are important, as they work as a guideline for most standard situations. They make decisions easier.
But what happens when both clash against each other? A formal rule was broken due to an irrelevant mistake, without the any disrespect to the code of honour. The teacher has every right to apply the penalty provided by the formal rule. But, by doing this, wouldn't the teacher signalise that the student's word of honour is worthless and, therefore, relegate the school's code of honour to a mere piece of paper?

What's keeping me busy these days

Well, no classes this week since Wednesday. So I should have had a quiet week and weekend, right? But that was not the case. Laundry, assignments, pre-reading for next block's classes and socializing (I'm avoiding to use the term party too much around here) and kitchen duty have kept me fairly busy. And, on top of that, my phone continues to give me problems from time to time, and I don't really know what the cause is. But, with the help of the all knowing internet, I'll figure it out.

Times around

This travelling around the globe is getting me confused. The timezone setting for this blog has been wrong for the last 3 weeks or so. But that's not too bad.

The hood

A jacket with a good hood is an important accessory when it gets windy in Kingston.

To start the week in engineering mode

Lest I forget my origins...

Weather jealousy

This is how the weather looked like today beofre class from my window. Pretty nice, don't you think? Yeah, that's what I think too, I can't complain. Dry, nice sun, a bit cold but not too much. Really, really fine weather.

But then I heard that it was snowing in Trossingen and I can't help but feeling jealous. I just love it when it snows! Well, I enjoy it at least for some time.

Opportunity cost

While I am here at the University of Warwick, I am not there experiencing this:


This is Henrique, my nephew who was born in January while I was in Brazil. It is really a pitty that I am missing out on his development, but those were the choices I made, and I don't regret them. And no, I don't think he is the cutest. But he surely is my most loved nephew.

The whiteboard

Scribled during a syndicate group meeting. You like it?

Portuguese speaking break

I did talk for at least half an hour with my father in Portuguese yesterday, but it was really nice to chat for 5 minutes with the Brazilian cleaning lady here at my flat at Lakeside. She is friendly and young, really nice to talk to. From her I learnt the the Soccer World Cup will take place in Brazil in 2014. Maybe I'll be there?

Falling asleep

It is hard. And I knew it would be. To stay awake during afternoon classes. It has always been a problem with me, I'm a morning person.
The big pot of cold coffee did not work. The lecture is interesting and important, last Accounting session before midterm exams. But even so, it ain't easy.
So I took a walk. Drank some water. Refreshed myself in the lou. And wrote this.
Maybe it was the gnochi with mushroom sauce, chicken nuggets, bean sprouts in soya sauce and salad which I was so proud to have prepared today.