Wow, my recent Thanksgiving trip to Seattle has certainly made me question the idea of moving away from California for school. It was so so cold up there, and that is nothing to what it would be like in DC or New York. After a while I guess I have just started to take the San Diego weather for granted. It had been a long time since I had seen endless rain like that, so depressing. I swear it affects my mood. It certainly makes it more difficult for me to get up in the mornings, my 6.30 am mornings in SD are tough at first, but as soon as I pull open the curtains and see the bright blue sky I always feel ready to get up and go. Hmmmm I wonder if I will always feel like that? Anyway it makes the idea of an online or local education far more tempting when I head out of this city.

My new favorite site: kayak.com
I just love this site- the layout is wonderful, so easy to use. The flights are always the best deals around- such a refreshing change from Expedia et al. I love the way it just sends you to the correct airline's site. Mainly I love this site because I feel no need to shop around, I just use kayak and know that this is most likely the best deal there is and can stop looking. So many hours of time saved.

I recently spent the day kayaking with a lady who went to Harvard Business School for her MBA. She was showing me how many doors it has opened for her- she really has been able to have three very separate careers since that time, all doing very different things and all thanks to her time at HBS. This has lead me to a little more research on MBAs myself.

This article on 'What's an MBA really worth?' is certainly a little gloomy and suggests that skills learned in business school are not necessary to make one a business leader. The social networking they do concede to be important however, and point to Harvard in particular as offering a big leg up through the close knit ties you make as a business student.

An article in business week suggests however that an MBA is usually worth the costly investment (getting to over $100,000 in some cases). Or at least that most graduating with an MBA will have no trouble paying off their loans when they enter into thier 6 figure starting salary jobs (the article is not so clear as to whether the MBA is needed for such a career path).

This site offers some wise advise as to when to enroll in an MBA program- namely when ti is most necessary for your career. This is unlikely to be right after undergrad, but maybe important somewhere down the road in your business career. The site also mentions that an MBA really is important for getting into the top echelons of a business.

So conclusion- Getting into Harvard Business School or Wharton would be nice :-)
Otherwise it seems best to leave the MBA for a little while, get more experience, and make use of it when I really know what I need it for.

Currently I'm reading into day trading. At first glance, my 'too-good-to-be-true-so-it-probably-is' alarm went off. That was until I discovered the sheer volume of literature on the subject and the enormous population who participates. Right now I'm looking through what many consider to be the standard literaturen for the practice: Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John Murphy. Not exactly an all-night page-turner, but it is a very comprehensive introduction to Technical Analysis and day-trading. I plan to follow Murphy's book with a couple of other books on the mindset and psychology that is necessary for day trading. I've read from several different sources that this is a vastly underestimated necessity for anyone who looks to succeed in day-trading. Hesitation, second-guessing as well as over-confidence can be disastrous. Hopefully with a few books under my belt, I'll be able to gauge my confidence level and decide whether to invest the capital needed to begin trading.

Headed up to LA this weekend.
Saturday evening we stayed on Beverly Blvd. and went out to a Comedy Club to see Doug Stanhope, it was a lot of fun. First we had dinner at the club and were pleased to find out that all those who came for dinner had thier seats reserved for them, which meant we got a really top notch spot, right at the front.
The first act was a woman who was about the most unfunny person I could ever imagine. Her jokes revolved around premises such as- using Star maps instead of real maps and Canadians having free health care meaning they just go and have CAT scans for fun, if this wasn't enough she never expanded further than the premise of the joke. She just simply stated it in one sentence and moved on to the next one. Every time a slight courtesy laugh.
The following two acts were much better, although a little cheap in their use of almost purely offensive subject matter. This gets a laugh without any sort of cleverness and is, I think, a little lazy. Still Doug Stanhope himself was great, just long streams of consciousness, moving effortless from one topic to the next, often having five different jokes running concurrently and never seeming to be at all concerned that he was on stage and needed to entertain people. His humor was often smart and inciteful. It was a very fun evening.
Next day we headed of to Buena Park for a trip to Knotts Berry farm. After a very successful trip to Disney's California Adventure earlier in the spring we were eager for more theme park fun. Unfortunately we were a little disappointed. Knotts certainly had more roller coasters than CA Adventure. The Excelorator and the Silver Bullet being among the most fun, as well as a few others, but there was something just wrong about the park. After a morning of wandering around a little disparities we finally realized what this was- there was no theme. CA adventure is a wonderful celebration of everything great in this beautiful state, from the boardwalks of Santa Cruz, to the mountains of Yosemite, to the vineyards of Sonoma the diversity and beauty of the State is all included. From the minute you step in through the mini golden gate bridge to your trip down the fake Hollywood Blvd. You really feel that you are in California, even our beautiful State Poppy is celebrated.
Contrast with this a theme park whose theme is some mix between Peanuts, Pioneers, God Bless America and every tacky children's toy that can be sold at different stands. No thought has gone into the layout of the park, each ride seems to have just been plonked down wherever it might fit. The result is that the only time you really enjoy are the 50 or so seconds you spend on each ride. This isn't good enough.
Additionally the management of the park was poor, no single rider line, no fast track system and no comprehensive map explaining about different rides. The entertainment was hilarious and by far the highlight of the day. 20 kids all dressed up in the colors of the flag singing songs about our wonderful nation and how everyone else in the world wants to live here- really great for the international tourists that was. Worst of all there were maybe 2 drinking fountains in the whole park- not fun in Southern California.

All this got me thinking that the tempers business is really quite fascinating, the difference between an excellent and a really poor job being manifested in so many ways. I've spent the whole day reading Amusement today and the IAAPA ( International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) . I've even found that you can study themeparks. Maybe I will have to think about doing my MBA with a focus on themepark management, I think it would be fascinating to work one up from mediocrity like Knotts to something really great,