One Years Ups and Downs

Hello, hello -
This is my online diary that solicited encouragement and advice from the world. It's a self centered adventure into my world, and hopefully educational as well. Well, it's been a nice year and many decisions were made and life progresses and the world is heating up.

 I've decided to throw my luck in with Nicolas Warren and Perfect Fuel Chocolate. This is the healthy chocolate company that I helped Co-Found here in Boston. We're fighting as any small business does to keep it going and get it competitive. That was last August so I've almost been at this full time for a year.

Things are going well. We've launched our first product for amateur and professional athletes, Perfect Fuel Chocolate Ginseng and the reception has been warm. Warm that is by the people that like dark chocolate. We'll see as more people are eating it the benefits that follow through, from increased stamina to immune boosting powers.

 We are now in 35 stores in Massachusetts and loving it. And loving getting to know our customers. This is taking a lot of time.

As far as relationships go I know longer am with Miwa. After our engagement in July and her recent arrival in the US she made some big decisions. She decided she was too young to follow through, didn't enjoy the US, and had lost her feelings for me. This is real life folks. This had freed up time for me to go out and be more social but it's also left a gaping hole where that love use to be. Bye-bye Miwa.

Regards.

Tough Decisions

Hello, hello and welcome back after that long period of silence. Things have been busy, and yes that's to be expected in an MBA program but I don't attribute it to that. I attribute it to being Director of International Affairs for the GSC at Babson. Priming myself for the life of a politician I have organized multiple events during the semester and tried to keep my constituency happy.

I'm also wrestling with the decision of what's to come in May. There are four options as I see it:
1) Use MARS contacts or regular interviewing methods to enter the work force as a marketer (may look into Equal Exchange)
2) Build my business plan and start production of a high end chocolate product
3) Move to Japan and build a career from teaching English
4) Some other option that will get drunk and fall into my lap

Those of you surprise by option 3 should read my earlier post about my lovely girlfriend. She has recently gone through the interview process was offered and accepted a job in equity sales for Barclay's International in Tokyo. I'm in love and my Grand-daddy always told me that when you love a woman you have to monopolize their time. It sure is hard to monopolize their time when their in another country. My grad-daddy is also the one who most strongly opposes this move

Also there is option 1. It may be trickier then I thought to market myself even with the MBA just because my experience is limited to Peace Corps and international development and not in retail, sales, or other conventional experience. Looking through job posting for MBAs it's tricky to find anything that doesn't require 3 years of experience in the field.

This almost makes the second option the most appealing, though I would have to make some major moves major quick. The first would be making some proto-types in my kitchen. It makes me reflect on my time here at Babson and if I have spent the time wisely. I know I have enjoyed it and made lots of friends but I haven't used the resources to build this business idea.

So there you have it some key life decisions and the process I'm going through. Any suggestions are welcome.

For your reference here are some guiding articles from the news:
1) 21st Century Workforce
2) Bull run for cocoa trade and chocolatiers
3) Teaching English in Japan

Thanks for reading guys. Hope all is well yet challenging and adventuresome in the rest of the world. BOOM

A Magical City and MARS

Falling behind is never good when blogging, the details begin to get fuzzy and so the wit does not quite cut as deep, since it is lacking details. So I've decided I'll see if my story makes sense and fabricate the rest.


My life in Paris can be characterized into 4 sectors. First there is my desk job at MARS Drinks. Yes, it's a chocolate company but they also produce coffee's and teas specifically for their machine. Anyone in the single serve coffee business knows, profit is made off the packets. So that's sector one. Sector two is home life with the Cs. I've been asked to keep their identities anonymous. Please understand though, they are the sweetest uniquely French couple you could encounter. I really lucked out as far as accommodations go (and I'll tell you all about it in a sec). Sector three is solo exploits, when I can't bare to be in this city and not go out and experience it (crepes, accordions and drunks). And sector four is exploits with friends, the bulk of which, thus far, have been with Miwa when she came to visit.


So first let me tell you about MARS Drinks France, and my work. I can't tell you all because there are trade secrets and I paid enough attention in my law class to stay out of trouble at least. I can say that the French people I work with are very nice, work hard, and very few speak English. Luckily my boss Giles can speak English and the other intern, AW, speaks English as well and my French is coming along. Giles and AW help me through the day and with communications with other folks in the office. My commute to work takes between 45 min to an hour and a half, depending on who I get a ride with. The MARS office is out by the Charles de Gaul airport and luckily it's a reverse commute because the Paris traffic is terrible. The work has it's ups and downs, besides being in Paris I'd say it's what you would expect a summer internship to be, lots of cold calls, some travel, and all the coffee you can drink.

Sector two of my life is living in a flat near the Arch de Triomph and the Champs Elysee in Paris, France. What a marvelous experience and the fact that I'm renting from a retired couple, that are so amazing they should be written about, only makes it better. Some background on Madam and Monsieur C. They are some of the most active retired people I know with a great weekly routine, starting with Monday horseback ride in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne, a nearby forest and ends with a friendly dinner on Saturday night (I have no idea what they do on Sunday but it probably involves antiques). During the week Madame C works at a music box boutique at the Grand Palais, and Monsieur is just Monsieur. Madame C also does yoga on Friday, and by yoga I mean she brings a yoga class into her living room. I have attended quite a few of their dinner parties now and I quite enjoy them. Real French culture!

Sector three, my solo exploits into the city and surrounding area. Some successful and some not so much. I am happy to say that I'm a regular in the local bakery, wine shop, deli, and sandwich stand.

There is something about carrying your bottle of wine and baguette here in Paris that just feels so right. I wish I could say more then hello, but it's a friendly relationship. My main exploits have been, the Louvre, Notre Dame and gellato, Mamartre and the Dali museum, La Defense, and Versaille. I think my pictures capture these occasions fairly well.

Sector four is adventures with friends. I hope to add more to these but for right now they were mainly just a visit from Miwa, which was great. We ate at 2 great restaurants and got some cultural learning at another. The first restaurant was Chez Julian, and I highly recommend it. Outdoor seating by the Siene with the occasional accordianist setting the mood just perfectly. Monsuer and Madame C took us to an auction that was really a unique experience, especially in France. We took a boat ride on the Siene with champagne and a crepe. The second restaurant was Cafe del Homme, very modern with a DJ flipp'n the wax and a full on view of the Eiffel Tower. Yes, Miwa and I had a great French weekend.

So, this is my new life and I have many more experiences and travels coming up. Wish me well and please tell me dishes that I must have. I had my first fois grais at lunch the other day and it was soft, much like the forehead of a japote. Another great marketing scheme, much like the Mona Lisa. BOOM

First Week in Paris

Now for the real reason for this uptake in blogging- a summer in Paris. I'll get back to this soon, I swear. BOOM

A Long Hard Year

Hello, hello to anyone out there,

Just wanted to reflect on the school year at Babson.


I like to first sum up how a time period went by how well I lived. Physically, socially, hyperbolically, and I'd say I lived very well. Especially when you compare my living to the rest of the world (ROW). Lived out in Wellesley, MASS, had good times in the kitchen at Woodside (pre-party and spoons), made some strong friends (Mona and Samuel), and I even managed to learn a little bit about business.


I had some very inspiring professors, like Goldstein, the man is hyper-energetic and excited about finance. Then there is Paul Mulligan, the operations guy. TOM was a blast with him improvising in relative content as easy as pie. Yes, there were some not so good teachers as well and some of the classes made me yawn and famously fall asleep (that was actually in Goldsteins class, but just because I was tired). I learned a ton as most of the material was new academic territory for me. Now a lot of the management classes I knew because of my grandfathers teachings, but strategy and marketing were really new. I think that makes me like subjects more, when I'm learning something new.



Throughout the year there were regular things I would do, like play basketball, go listen to bluegrass at the Can Tab, racquetball, not to mention Notes Playable (accapella) and Business Casual (improv group). Regular things that I would eat, chicken and mushrooms, salad with mozzarella, and my famous tomato and hot dog soup.
I also ate more chocolate this year then any other year of my life. Partly because I want to experience chocolate and partly because of the consulting project me and a group were doing for MARS. The group was TJ Patrick, Yolanda Ma, Adam Gold, Alyson Greenlee, Jun Yeo, and Supreet Sodhi and we had our ups and downs but generally got

along with eachother. That was a great experience, doing a chocolate industry analysis and then a consulting project for the Pure Dark brand (but that's top secret so you didn't hear that here).

There was also the unforgettable Spring Break to Puerto Rico aye aye aye pioh! pioh!, beaches hangovers and dancing. It was the true spring break I had always dreamed of.




I really struck it luck in October for my birthday when an Executive program was at Babson from HEC business school in France. I hit it off well with all of them but especially the marketing director for MARS Drinks in Europe. These guys make the Flavia beverages and this guy offered me an internship on the spot. And off I go to Paris for the summer. You can't beat that, just gotta figure out how to write my report for the 3 credits I'm getting for this.

So yes, it was a good school year, I lived well, took care of myself, and did a pretty good job of taking care of my people. I even ended the year in a really nice

relationship which I hope lasts for a long time (just wait til you meet Miwa).

Exciting times at Babson

Hello, hello-
So business school is whizzing by, I love having a life that's structured so that I feel that I'm getting a lot accomplished. Whether I am or not is debatable. Now, there's no doubt that I'm learning a ton about accounting, financial footprints, strategy, marketing, micro-economics, leadership in dynamic organization, identifying opportunity spaces and the like but whether I can put this knowledge to good use has yet to be seen. One of the cool projects that we are working on is a consulting project for Mars. I can't get into the details of it but lets just say that at the end of this project I'm going to know a lot about chocolate. These all add up to exciting times at Babson. Not to mention summitting mountains, dancing, playing basketball, and generally enjoying life.


The top five this posting are the top 5 movie trilogies of all time. I have to say these are them:
1. Lord of the Rings
2. Star Wars IV-VI
3. The Matrix
4. X-men
5. Ninja Turtles

It's not often that they get better as they go along.

BOOM

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