MP3 Experiment!

The day before we departed on our cruise, Stephanie and I participated in the sixth MP3 experiment on Roosevelt Island in New York. Everyone was following instructions from our iPods and at this point, we were playing 'bats versus hammers.' Fortunately nobody whacked me while I was filming with my camera phone, although it may not have affected the motion sickness you get from watching my filmography.

For more information, I defer to a much better bloggist than I...David Pogue. He was there and recalls it in much more vividry. All right, done making up words.

https://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/the-mp3-experiment/

After that, we explored Roosevelt Island a little. Stephanie, aka Tiny Tanks, explored the halls of a sketchy state hospital in search of some urgent relief. We then enjoyed some wine and irish coffees at the Trellis restaurant, a very pleasant restaurant with a doting staff and a frequent local patronage. I smirked at a regular who complained to everyone who passed by her how cold she thought the place was. Surprisingly, 80% of the passers-by knew her by name and commisserated.

Blogging from Graduation

I'm excited to be able to share my graduation day with my family and friends. Thanks Dad and Beth, Mom and Doug, Memom and my lovely Stephanie for sharing this soggy day with me.

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Engineers in the Schools

Today I visited South Cobb HS in Austell, GA in order to give the science students a little insight on what it's like to be an engineer. If you didn't know, it's National Engineers Week from February 15-21, and Mother Lockheed has charged us with hitting the streets to spread the joys of engineering.

Consider the source, right? Here I am, practically with an MBA degree in my hand (80 more days 'til graduation!) and a pretty good idea of what it's like outside those engineered-wood doors. As I was filling out my semi-canned powerpoint presentation, I looked for some of the accomplishments I was proud of as a full-blown aerospace design engineer. After weighing whether I should brag about the 1000+ fastener wing assembly drawing I did for JSF, or the time I put the Marine C-130 Overhead Avionics Rack (affectionately known as the Hog Trough) into 3D space, I decided that neither would stack up more favorably than what was presented during National Midwifery Week. And looking through some of our promotional material, I came across a video which, even if it doesn't get you all verklempt like the USA winning the gold medal in the 1980 olympics, it pretty much explains why I'm still sitting in my cubicle at LM while my classmates are accepting jobs at consulting agencies and investment banks.

If you were to understand the inspiration behind, "A Letter to Kelly," you would probably get why I've pursued a career in aerospace, a journey spanning coast-to-coast and back again.

Technology Day at RPI

Display at Darrin Communication Center

I volunteered for a recruiting trip to the venerable Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Not the most coveted destination, but absolutely beautiful with a thin layer of snow dusting the terrain. It was great acting the rock star for a bunch of aerospace engineering undergrads, although I could sense the desperation in some who had not found a job after graduation. It was rare to speak to a sole aerospace engineering major, as most of them were bridged to the mechanical engineering school, evidently for some skill diversification in these tough times. On the upside, NY is still the home of some kick-butt food, as I sampled the exquisite fare of Bomber's Burrito Bar in Albany.

Killer Jerk Pork "Fatty" Burrito

Finished Atlas Shrugged None Too Soon

Well folks, I finally turned the last page of Ayn Rand's opus "Atlas Shrugged." And apparently, my completion of the book comes at a time that her words scream most loudly. The basis of her novel is free-market capitalism, in a phrase, "leave the good businesses alone, let the market take care of the bad businesses."

Ironically, our latest recession is almost an anachronistic scene out of her novel. Bad businesses are lining up by the dozens to receive a bailout by the federal government. And the government can't deny "helping" these troubled businesses by partially nationalizing them.

How funny is it that Yahoo! Finance is discussing a blog written by Henry Blodget which discusses just this topic. It's titled, "Ayn Rand for Treasury Secretary." I have to take issue with some of the comments on the video suggesting that capitalism "had it's shot" and now government needs to take back over. Today's proliferation of bad leverage and successive reeling in of that debt should not be compared with the choking off of valuable intellectual assets as featured in the book.

In a water shortage, (if you could,) would you supply the water works with more water, or would you "let it fail" due to poor water management? There is a difference in the actions the government is taking to keep our economy going, some good, some not so good. The liquidity injections made by the Fed are not the same as enabling poor business models to keep producing noncompetitive goods. Sort it out, so-called pundits!

Is Obama our John Galt? Not likely, considering he is in support of raising taxes, not abolishing them. Please just let me fund my Roth 401k for another couple of years before jacking our taxes up...

Thank God our current innovators and profiteers aren't disappearing at a breakneck speed. Granted, this isn't the time for private equity firms to dole out money like it's 2005, but enough or our capitalistic society is still intact that I think we've a lot of smart people working very hard to improve this mess we're in.

Still waiting for Galt's electrostatic-motor powered Prius though.

Goizueta EvMBA Leadership Academy 2008

I graduated from the GBS Evening MBA Leadership Academy last Spring, and it was one of the best professional development opportunities I had undertaken apart from enrolling at Goizueta in March of 2006. Anne Kocurek was the director of the program and leadership coach, while Peter Topping was the professor. Aside from our couse text (his book,) Managerial Leadership, our Saturday seminars were always very interesting and insightful. In particular, the "Leadership Diamond" is a great way to assess your own effectiveness as a leader and make changes where necessary.

We also attended experiential events which truly succeeded in ripping us out of our comfort zones. One was at the Whole World Theater in Downtown Atlanta, an improvisation course. Another was a teambuilding/bad-habit-busting cooking class which pitted four teams of wannabe chefs against each other in an iron-chef like competition. Of course our team won...who doesn't love Pampas steak with a seafood paella. :)

Another requirement of the program was to post three blog entries related to book/article reviews and experiences in the class. I've linked to them below; otherwise I'm working on importing them completely into my Blogger blog just in case Emory decides to discontinue their site.

The Power of Prayer - Zero Church Project - 12/11/2007
During Fall Break this semester I had the honor of attending an intimate Roches concert at the Michael C. Carlos museum reception hall. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the semi-sextet of …

Book Review: Beyond Success - 3/30/2008
Newly-minted Blame Buster and Starfish Thrower, Rob Feltus …

Generations in the Workplace - 4/15/2008
aka Son of a Son of a Silent ...

Finally, I'd like to extend a debt of gratitude to Anne and Professor Topping. I would recommend this program to any and all.

The Eastern Express AN-74 Coaler

I just started to put this uncommon cargo aircraft together. It's a 1/72 scale model of a Russian special applications transport plane. Utilizing upper-surface-blowing and skis, this plane can land and take off on the shortest and most remote arctic (and antarctic) airfields. Stay tuned for progress updates!

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