Saturday, July 16, 2005
Back in Boston
I'm back in Boston for the weekend, here for the first time in about a month. It's so easy for me to forget how beautiful the city is, but when I'm here on a nice day with clear skies and a breeze and I'm walking over the Charles River I'm always awestruck. Of course, it's only really like this from May-October, but when it's nice here it's really nice.
I had a great flight up last night. I sat next to a marketing manager for a local manufacturing firm that does a lot of business in Texas. It's one of those chance encounters that could one day lead to a job, I think, because it's the kind of company that I could really see myself working for straight out of school if I go the general management route over investment management. They've got some really neat technology and it seems like a great place to work. I got her card, so when I'm back here for school I can follow up and see if it's something I want to explore.
Today I went and got a haircut at my barbershop in Harvard Square and then gave in to temptation and went and got a copy of the new Harry Potter book. On the one hand I suppose it seems a little childish to be reading HP, but I read the last one and I was a little surprised by how intelligent and sophisticated it is. Furthermore, I just read an interesting WSJ article about how the plot of HP5 closely follows British history leading up to WW2. So, if Ms. Rowling is inducing kids to read and also teaching them a little history at the same time, well then I think I should support that by paying $18 and getting my copy to read. If nothing else, it's entertaining.
Last weekend I finalized my course selections (we get a 4 week window over the summer to revise our selections based on demand stats and internship experiences), though not much changed. My internship hasn't been the career path revealing experience I hoped it would be, but then I think that was unrealistic to begin with. It all comes back to the fact that a job is more about the culture of the firm than the actual work, and while I like the culture of the firm a lot I'm not 100% convinced that this is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. In a way it's disappointing, but then I think I knew it all along so it's not such a big deal.
I had a great flight up last night. I sat next to a marketing manager for a local manufacturing firm that does a lot of business in Texas. It's one of those chance encounters that could one day lead to a job, I think, because it's the kind of company that I could really see myself working for straight out of school if I go the general management route over investment management. They've got some really neat technology and it seems like a great place to work. I got her card, so when I'm back here for school I can follow up and see if it's something I want to explore.
Today I went and got a haircut at my barbershop in Harvard Square and then gave in to temptation and went and got a copy of the new Harry Potter book. On the one hand I suppose it seems a little childish to be reading HP, but I read the last one and I was a little surprised by how intelligent and sophisticated it is. Furthermore, I just read an interesting WSJ article about how the plot of HP5 closely follows British history leading up to WW2. So, if Ms. Rowling is inducing kids to read and also teaching them a little history at the same time, well then I think I should support that by paying $18 and getting my copy to read. If nothing else, it's entertaining.
Last weekend I finalized my course selections (we get a 4 week window over the summer to revise our selections based on demand stats and internship experiences), though not much changed. My internship hasn't been the career path revealing experience I hoped it would be, but then I think that was unrealistic to begin with. It all comes back to the fact that a job is more about the culture of the firm than the actual work, and while I like the culture of the firm a lot I'm not 100% convinced that this is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. In a way it's disappointing, but then I think I knew it all along so it's not such a big deal.
