r u sure you want to buy 8 cans of Guiness?

"It's like making love in a canoe, too close to water."
This is how one of my classmates describes American beer.

So I am in Europe now. You would think I would get a GREAT selection of beer. Guess what, the Swiss aren't all about having different kinds of beer.

I haven't had that much beer since I got to Switzerland. And the beer I had was limited to the plain old lager, or the little bit of Guniness that costs 8 ($7) Swiss francs a pint. I want some ale, or some amber, something that you would enjoy coming out of a Swiss winter.

I decided that it was time to start consuming beer again. It's time to stock up on some beer at home. So I went down to a grocery store down the road. Mhhhhh. Not that many choices if you are looking for alternatives to lager. Not to mention expensive. A six pack of 12 ounces of ale costs 12 francs ($10). But there is was, my trusty Guiness, and it's on sale! At 24% off (yes, that is 24%, not 25%, ok? It's Swiss percision!), a pint still costs 3 francs. But hey, it's cheaper than having it at the bar, and it also means I can have it whenever I am at home!

There I was, with 8 cans of Guiness at the register. What do you know, the register rang it up wrong without the discount. Not only that, the chic was questioning my sanity at buying 8 cans of beer at 4 francs a piece (the dicount didn't come through). She said something like: "U know that it's 4 francs a can, not 4 francs for four cans?"

Certainly, I am not idiot. But how do I tell her that I am aware of thee PER CAN price, and am perfectly willing to pay for that beautiful Irish black gold even at 4 francs a pop. Well, when you can only use sign language you get creative. Wave your arms alot and be animated. You either scare the hell out of them or make them laugh.

Oh well. The bottom line is that I still managed to get the Guiness without a word of French (and only paying 3 francs a can)! Oh boy, do I enjoy it!

deux crossant

Exam week. The bad news is there is a 4 hour exam every afternoon. The good news is that we get the morning off to study everyday. Rolling out of bed this morning, remembering that I ran out of bread, I decided to run out to the corner bakery two minutes away. With a dash of rain, and my trusty Tevas, I got two crossants. And how? Easy.

The nice lady at the bakery doesn't speak a word of english, and my french stops at counting to four. Well, thank goodness, I don't really need to buy five of anything this year. Everytime I go, I use "un" plus the best prounciation I could muster of whatever the sign if front of the bread says. But, today, I was in a much better situation. I knew that "two" is "deux", and crossant is, well, crossant. That was easy. So, I proundly said, "deux crossant" (I don't know how to say "please") while holding up two fingers. Money and food exchange hands, trade completed.

On the way home, I smiled. Crossant in Europe taste just a little better than in the States, I was going to enjoy fresh crescent for the first time in Lausanne (I have class Saturday mornings, and bakeries don't open on Sundays). How nice. What make me laugh even more was, what would have happened if after I said "deux crossant" while holding up two fingers, she replies"how are you this morning?" I would probably be really dumbfounded, probably thinking that something went wrong with the crossants.

I guess it doesn't make a difference how many languages I speak, as long as french isn't one of them, I could be in deep trouble just buying "deux crossant".

so soon?

Two and half months and 5 kg of added fat later (that is almost 10 pounds!), it's final exams time. I hate tests. I am here to learn, not to be evaluated. (and I know how much, or how little I have learned)

We have had 8 subjects, and the exam will include only 5: finance, accounting, OB, marketing, and operations. I thought finance was going to be a bitch until the professor went over the past three years of exams. Just go over them and you will be alright. I think. Accounting, another matter. As someone with an enginneering background, you would think I am good with numbers. Well, I have no idea what is going on in that class. I am not passionate about, I don't care about it, I will never be an accountant. Of course, if I need it, I will find someone whom I can trust, but that is the extend of it.

The rest, I will probably just bullshit my way through it. Wish me luck.

what's on your mind?

Our operations class is taught by various professors based on their areas of expertise. Of the 4 or 5 professors that have taught, Corey Billington was one that proved to be popular with most students. Corey came from HP, where he ran the supply chain, then purchasing. What makes his lectures special are not limited to his extensive knoelwedge of purchasing or supply chain, but the practical management experience he brings to the table.

For those of us with some people management experience, and those who are going to manage teams, the management tools or advice he offers, are applicable immediately. You know, MBAs prefer practical stuff over things like WACC calculation or absorbtion accounting.

The topic discussed yesterday was on layoff skills. Well, a pretty passionate dicussion, as you can imagine. Some of us have been through it (including myself), and have seen plenty of bad examles! So, here is what Crey has to offer. Prepare, prepare, prepare! So when the time comes, you just execute the plan. The moment you know that it might be coming, take your staff aside, and ask them, in a private setting, would you have a preference. Some people might just tell you that they would prefer to take the package. It's better than not asking, and have someone be unhappy, because he/she wanted the package but did not get laid-off, while the person who got laid-off is also upset because he/she didn't want to leave.

If course, there's more complexity (that is why you go get an MBA to get a full explaination). For example, someone asked: "Would you really want to tell your boss your mind is somewhere else?" The answer: "come on, the average adult thinks about sex 6 times a minute, do you really thinkg your mind is at work?" The witty comments make his lecture just so much more enjoyable!

Chinese "commerads" in class

Those of you who know me know that I am still pretty black and white in my political opinions. The operations case today discussed a company's decision to go to China, among the prime reasons, is that most of its clients are in Taiwan, and they wanted to serve their customer better by producing the machine closer to the customers.

So, I asked an obvious question. If they want to be close to their customers, why don't they manufacture their machines in Taiwan? I guess what most people don't know is that direct trade is not allowed between China and Taiwan, and everything must be shipped first to a third country before it arrives at the shore of taiwan.

The professor answered by saying Taiwan is pretty expensive comparing to China. Before he could finish his answer, one of the Chinese classmates in class yelled out loud: "Taiwan is a part of China." Much to my surprise, most of the class boo'ed him out. I almost wanted to say: "well, the fact that he has to make this statement probably suggests the truth is otherwise." But I didn't. I didn't want to make a scene in class. Knowing the Chinese, they will probably never stop arguing. It just wasn't the right forum (although past experiences have proven that they will argue the point in any forum).

What is it with these people? Why is everything political to them?

BTW, my name tag in class says "American".

(Oh, if you want to know, in the case, the company eventually decided to outsource to contract manufactures in China, then ship the parts to Taiwan, and had the machines assembled there.)

Copyright

Again, we had a case about China. This time, it was about a manufacturing company in europe sourcing assembled parts from China. One of it's fears is the chinese habit to copy everything they can get their hands on. The classic total ignorance of stealing someone else's intellectual property "with pride" as they would put it.

The prof made a comment, quoting an executive whose company's product was copied: "for them, the definition of copyright is the right to copy."

I guess that is another definition for copright, as to Free Software Foundation's CopyLeft concept.

pick your future world leader

Here is an interesting exercise we did in one class. After reading the description of three distinctive leaders below, we were asked to vote for one as the best fit for a world leader. (Since the ones now aren't all that great)

Candidate A: associates with crooked politians and consults with astrologers. He's had two mistresses. He chain smokes, and drinks 8-10 martinis a day.

Candidate B: was kicked out of college twice, used opium as an undergraduate, now sleeps until noon and drinks a quart of whisky every evening.

Candidate C: is a decorated was hero. He is a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks only an occasional beer and hasn't had any extramarital affairs.

So, what's your pick?

If you know me, what do you think I picked?





Here is who the candidates are:
A: Roosevelt
B: Churchill
C: Hitler


So, what's the point?
Perception counts!