So today we're starting our drive from Berwyn, PA to Conyers, GA. Google says it'll be about 13 hrs. So we decided to stay at Raleigh, NC tonight and then continue in the morning. This way we'll get to see Raleigh too. Never been there... I'll take pics.

So I know that I wont be posting for awhile. Probably not until the 3rd or so. We're going to spend New Year's there with the cousins...

Ok I'm back... again.. let's see for how long this time. I just seem to have a problem with keeping up with my blog. :oppp

Yes I have finally graduated from the HEC MBA program, and am now officially an MBA... Drinks all around! It was a hectic but very very fun year.. will definitely miss it, already do!

I am now in Berwyn, PA, which is about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia. And right next to the King of Prussia (KOP) mall. What else can a girl ask for?

Alright.. what caught my eye today? This article on the worst ads, from Slate.com. I have to completely agree with them about the Pepto-Bismol, GAP and Visa ads especially. And would like to add one in particular that I hate:

I think the ad agency overshot the "repetition" effect here. By the time this commercial is over.. you wanna "take'em on!"

Do Corporations Have Control over CSR in a Global Economy?

For many the answer to this question is a simple No. It makes it very easy to be able to say "corporations are businesses, their bottomline is to make profits, as much as they can, and they're not going to force anybody to do anything and risk decreasing profits, or increasing prices for the cost conscious consumers." That's the easy way out...

But not so fast anymore...
In this growing global economy, corporations who hire off-shore skills for production arent the minority. Practically anybody who can afford a plane ride to China or India is using services from the Far East for cheap labor, decreasing their costs. Then this difficult question is always brushed off with the excuse that even big corporations can rarely have a say on another country's laws. This argument is also starting to weaken. If the money that is pouring in from the Western businesses makes up the good part of the country's economy, then business owners will be more powerful than you can imagine. And not necessarily at a high cost to them.

Consider Apple. Recently there was an accusation about poor working conditions in the iPod City facilities in China. Instead of brushing this off, Apple, aware of the importance of it's social image to it's consumers, immediately began an investigation. The result? There are some changes that will take place immediately, without question, and there are others that are not against their contracts.
And Apple published a copy of the report on its website.

Why dont the other companies do this? Yes, Apple would seem to have more power than other companies because of it's size. But most importantly, Apple has educated its customers enough about CSR that it cannot afford to risk any mistake. Apple's customers are well aware of corporate responsibility and they would not be afraid to change to other companies for political reasons.
Apple handled the situation very professionally without damaging it's own image making the report publicly available on the website. They knew how to use CSR for their benefit rather than an excuse to not make changes or higher prices. They used CSR to further differentiate themselves from both their direct market competitors and their "image competitors".

At the end of the day corporations always have a choice to make. Steve Jobs did just that. Instead of staying quiet, he investigated. He answered. He published. He did his job, by strengthening the company image, and clearing any doubts from his consumers' and investors' minds.

Here's the CSR Global Investors 2nd Annual Ranking from the Globe and Mail

Seventh Anniversary of the Major Turkish Earthquake in 1999


We will never forget all those loved ones we've lost that day... the difficulties, chaos and pain that we lived through in the following days...

In reality more than 35,000 people died that day, but the official count remains at 17,000... we know all those who are gone, that's what counts.

The cost of the earthquake is over $8.5billion.

Still... the government is trying to figure out what to do...

So a ceasefire is going on. And why did all those people have to die again? Why did the environment had to be destroyed? Aside from the irreplaceable and inexcusable loss of innocent lives, what other damages did this war cause?

Here are the links:

From Bloomberg, how Israel has successfully managed to damage something that has been standing since 140 A.D..

From CBBC - UK, the clean up has finally begun following the ceasefire, however, The oil spill now covers 140 km (87 miles) of the coast in Lebanon, and is threatening sea species like bluefin tuna and sea turtles.

From the Guardian - The oil spill not only threatens many species in the Mediterranean, but has also destroyed one of the cleanest beaches of the Mediterranean! They also point that:
- Ground water will be contaminated fro many years
- Forest and brush fires caused by the bombings will destroy cedars that will not be replaced for many years to come, ruining the ecosystem
- Release of asbestos from bombed buildings causing high scale health issues

LINKS TO BLOGS ABOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN DAMAGE

I've found the following blogs that have updates about the spill in the Mediterranean:

Beirut Update
Blogging in Beirut

The beautiful sea is crying black tears.

STILL NO ACTION FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN!

I cant believe that the world is SO blind! I suppose it stems from the "an eye for an eye and the world goes blind" thing. They have no eyes left.

First, they say they are not after the civilians, and they kill hundreds of them daily. Then they say they have no problem with the Lebanese government and the country and they destroy the whole country and its infrastructure.
And then... they say their only problem is with Hezbollah and nobody else in the world, and they want the world's support and they destroy one of the most beautiful seas in the world!? AND to top it off they dont allow any clean up activities to begin!!

Well the extent of this whole "conflict" has become absolutely ridiculous!! What did the Mediterranean Sea DO to you?? Is that also one of your "oops, it's a fact of war, things we really dont want to destroy gets destroyed, sorry" things?

You all have to open your eyes and realize that if you continue with this you will NOT have any livable land to fight over! It will be done, and you'll notice the land you're living on is completely poisoned, no drinkable waters no nothing, so you'll decide to take your war to some other people... it will NEVER end!

Mediterranean SEA: Greatest Casualty caused by Israel yet!

So I suppose the Mediterranean Sea was also supporting Hezbollah?

From Reuters:
"Israeli jets hit storage tanks at the Jiyyeh plant south of the Lebanese capital Beirut at the beginning of the war, spilling an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 metric tons of oil into the Mediterranean"

From the Washington Post:
"Fishermen say hundreds of oil-coated fish have been washed ashore in what is the country's worst ever environmental disaster."


From MSNBC (AP):
"Endangered turtles die shortly after hatching from their eggs. Fish float dead off the coast. Flaming oil sends waves of black smoke toward the city."

From Bloomberg:
"An oil spill seeping from a Lebanese power station that was bombed by Israeli jets threatens to pollute countries in the eastern Mediterranean such as Cyprus and Turkey,..."

And please check this satellite picture comparing the difference of the extent of the oil spill from July 21st to August 3rd. (1.4MB image)

By the time they are done with the conflict they will not have land to fight over!

Wow!! It's been more than 4 months... HEC was keeping me very busy in those last 4 months... but now that rush is pretty much over. So hold on for cool updates and even pics from our school gatherings... and SALSA! That's a new hobby I picked up, I got addicted to SALSA dancing.

Oscars 2006 What do you think?

Ok.. alot of people are giving really bad reviews to Jon Stewart for this hosting of the Oscars last night, but I must disagree with some. I mean Washington Post said that he was worse than David Letterman?!?? C'mon is that even remotely possible? Stewart didnt try anything like "Uma.. Oprah.. Oprah.. Uma" flob!
Instead he had a hillarious joke about Bjork not being there. "I have sad news. Bjork couldn't be here tonight. She was trying on her Oscars dress and Dick Cheney shot her!" That was definitely the best joke of the night.
Then came the intellectual kind "If we tear down this statue do you think democracy will flourish in Hollywood?" That was brilliant!
Yes, he definitely had flat moments, like the joke he was trying to pull off with Spielberg. Dont think Jews appreciated that, nor Spielberg himself.
The George Clooney bit was funny too. hehe "Good night and good luck. That's not just how Morrow ends his telecasts. But also how George clooney ends all his dates." hehehe... and Clooney was well humored enough about.
But! That one moment with Clooney was remarkable. When the lady who won for best short movie thanked the academy for seating her next to Clooney during the luncheon. hehehehe.. hillarious! He had this face of puzzlement and disagreement.. I guess he wasnt as flattered as her.
Reese Witherspoon for best actress... yes her performance was good, and I havent seen the other shows yet, but her acceptance speech was a bit over 1 minute. More like 2-3... A bit much I thought. But it was heartfelt...
But nothing for Joaquin?? That was a disappointment! Yes Hoffman had a brilliant performance in Capote, but more than anything Im sure people were struck by the ability to change his voice. BUT! Joaquin, doesnt look or sound anything like Johnny Cash but was able to make all of us believe he was Johnny Cash with his performance, and singing!! I just thought he was brilliant in that movie. And of course upset that Hoffman didnt keep his promise to his roommate, and bark half of his acceptance speech! That might have soothed the pain...
Oh... best acceptance speech: 3:6 Mafia! It's hard out here for a pimp! As Stewart said "That;s how you accept an Oscar!"

I know it's been a long time I havent posted... but another 2 days and I'll be here all the time! So much that I want to post.. but FINANCE!!! AARRRGGGHHH!! I HATE FINANCE!!! We have the final tomorrow... and I have NO idea what's going on! What's IRR? PVCCATS? hmph..

To SAP or not to SAP
Here's my ongoing dilemma for the last few weeks. We selected our electives in the MBA program, and they're offering us a very good deal on getting an SAP Certification (The Solution Consultant Certification), provided that we take 3 pre-requisite IT courses and dedicate one of the periods to the certification. I went ahead and registered for the courses and am planning on taking the certification, but not sure if it's the right decision for me.
While coming to the MBA I wanted to get away from IT, given the unstable nature of the industry. I wanted to go into Marketing, and it seems that I really am really good at it. But being realistic, just by taking 1 year worth of classes nobody's going to offer me an attractive Marketing position when I graduate. I dont want to see my experience go down the drain either, I have 9 years, 5 of which is in IT and 4 in Operations/Logistics. Bottom-line is, with 9 years experience and an MBA I dont want to take an entry level position. Im thinking that the SAP certification can help me get a job in a company that is using/implementing SAP and maybe a few years later transfer into their marketing department. Does that sound logical? Or should I just forget about the SAP Certification and just concentrate on only taking Marketing classes? What do you think? HELP!!

Huge Growth expected in Mobile Email Subscribers

They say that currently there are about 5 to 10million subscribers to mobile email. The kind you subscribe to with a Blackberry or the like.
They expect that number to go up to 850million by 2009!!! Now THAT's a business opportunity. No wonder Microsoft is trying to take on RIM, and RIM is getting so much attention and scrutiny over a patent infringement.

Another company is added to Google's blacklist
A company called Traffic Power is now de-listed by Google. Seems like Traffic Power is going to be noTraffic Power.
Well Google is very honest and clear about their content and technical guidelines and what the SEOs might be doing to your site. All you have to do is check their website and trust them. Dont try to fool the pigeons!

Valentine's Day is Tuesday! You've been served...

Don't forget the special someone for Valentine's Day. Send a card or something. Apparently 192 million cards are exchanged every Valentine's Day and 60% of them will be bought between today and Tuesday! I am not late to buy my cards after all!

HR at SAS and WiPRO
We have an assignment on the HR Strategies and practices at SAS. We're going to present it today.
Did you know that they provide free M&Ms every Wednesday and they have on-site massage services??! Provided the kind of industry they are in that's a divine idea!! I worked in one of their competitors, and I can tell you that massage and anything else that can make you happy would be so welcome!
The best part is how they promote work-life balance by forcing people to leave at 5pm everyday, at 6 it's last call, they shut down!
It's amazing the things companies can do for their employees but how so few of them actually even consider it! That's the difference between seeing employees as an asset or an expense I guess. :opppp

English Masterpieces
Ok I'm going to have this section, not to point out that some people cannot write in english, but to keep track of the extra time, and work we had to put in to be able to make something actually "deliverable"! Apparently, some people dont understand that...
oh and all the work that is referenced here is copyright material for NESEWAG.

What on earth is an R&D Plow rate?
What does this mean what are we believing? (we figured it out but it took awhile see if you can!)
"We believe that due to the particular situation in which the IT industry is in India, as the forgery of business talents for all the country, being a middle manager is not a profession for all life it is just an important stop in the career in any ambitious young women or man after which the doors for international are widely open."

We just had our Finance quiz... it was BAD. I mean BAD... A case about NPVs. The thing is, we know it's not thar hard to do, just that we've never really been shown how to do it...
finance to me is disgusting...

Steve Jobs is getting meaner and leaner with the iPod!

The iPod already has 70% of the US market for MP3 players. Now, amazingly, they are cutting prices (for the first time?). They are only doing this for the Shuffle and the nano, no price cuts for the iPod Video, or the full version. Now an iPod shuffle with 512MB that can hold 120 songs will sell for $69. Peanuts!
This price cut puts them into head to head competition with Creative, their nearest rival. But if you compare Creative's 512MB MuVo to iPod Shuffle or Nano... first of all Creative doesn't have an iTunes! Their playlists are not as usable as the iTunes (more details on that later). CNET says it has a small LCD panel, but the shuffle doesnt at all. And it's priced between $69-100. ($99 on Amazon.com). The only plus to iPod is it has an FM player (Steve, can we have this soon too?). Oh, but of course, it doesnt carry the ultimate Apple logo... :opp

Then 1GB Nano will sell for $149! And it holds 240 songs. It's better designed than any other MP3 player you can get your hands on! Ok the Creative Zen 1GB Nano player is priced at &129 on Amazon.com. But again, it doesnt have a playlist like iTunes, it runs on AAA batteries (who uses those anymore?) Apparently you can listen to 18hrs of music on one AAA battery. This is no longer a plus, it adds on additional cost (even if they're like 2bucks each, it means you need to pay 2bucks every 18th hour) and inconvenience. What if you run out of batteries? you cant use your MP3 player until you can get yourself to a store! No, the iPod is not the same thing, you wont need to run anywhere to recharge it, if you have your cable with you and any plug, charge it for a few mins and you're ready to go, oh and if you have your laptop with you all the time (like I do) it's NEVER an issue! :o))

I usually dont talk about religion or politics here. But ok I cant stay silent anymore.
Is being violent really the way to show that you're a peaceful religion? Wouldnt it be more effective to publicize an article in one of the Danish newspapers, or another European newspaper (like the Guardian for instance), and express how and why those cartoons were insulting?
There already are many anti-Islamist people in the world, and Allah knows, enough people to draw the wrong picture about Islam. Why the violence? Most of those people who are ending up hurt, or with a huge bill for damages, didnt have anything to do with drawing those cartoons!!
When is the Middle-East going to wake up and STOP its people from displaying such pointless acts? In the 21st century babaric actions will not make you more powerful, but it will be hurting YOU! It will be destroying your image and everything that you stand for! We are in a time of civilization where the more powerful asset anybody will have is their wisdom and intelligence, away from physical harm.
I know that in many Middle Eastern countries people can resolve personal conflict without actually harm each other. But in others, I wonder if your neighbor makes too much noise in the middle of the night, do you just go and burn his car so that he wont do it again? What KIND of message are you trying to send here with these riots about the cartoons? It certainly doesn't look like one for civilization and peace.

I tell you I LOVE Google!
A company so tied to its principals and concerned with integrity of its results... you know it will succeed for a long long time. It has now blacklisted BMW.de. A search for "BMW" returns results for BMW International, BMW US, BMW Canada etc.. but BMW Germany is not found on the list. This shows Google engineers really ARE a hand-picked-cream-of-the- profession bunch!
Now it's a hot discussion, was Google right? It's a no brainer, of course they were! A poll on CNN shows (during the time of this post) that 76% of people agree with Google. The other 24% must have been BMW.de spamming the survey. ;o))
If they don't send a message to everybody about how serious they are with their search results, next thing you know, Joe Blow next door is going to have the "doorways" to his website by tomorrow morning, and ANY search that you type in is going to bring up his site first! So no fooling Google!
This is not only about the integrity of Google search results but also about the web as a whole! What if every word you searched for brought up Microsoft's website in front of you?
We need to support Google in identifying more people like BMW.de.

Now it's Wal-Mart's turn with Coughlin...
Coughlin was accused of telling subordinates at Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, including Robert E. Hey Jr., director of operations development, to use the company's travel reimbursement and vendor invoice system to embezzle money, gift cards and goods.
Imagine how many more legal stories we'd be hearing about Walmart if there really was justice in the US business world!

Google is now facing reality... ?
Their stocks feel to $384, or $350 at it's lowest, after their disappointing announcement that their earning increased by 84% in Q4 compared to the same quarter last year. They've built so much expectation in the investor world that they've done themselves harm than good. They couldn't meet their EPS predictions, actually missed it by 22cents and they went down fast.
It's going to be an interesting ride after this one... Hope they wont have to come up with the Google Rollercoaster next!

Hmm.. "Google Tunes"!! I cant wait to see my most favorite two companies compete! :o)

I wonder what Google is up to and how Apple will respond? But can Google threaten Apple? After all, Apple is the first to provide such a user and industry friendly service. Google would have to come up with a service/technology that will do much, much more than just search and download MP3s or video files to get a competitive edge in the market. They did launch their Google Video store recently, it's actually still BETA. It searches through the script and files of movies to find a specified word. Not sure that's going to get them up to par with iTunes. Hmm... let's wait and see. Maybe we'll see an increase in serenades then... :oppp

The Screen Actors' Guild awards were last night. The winners arent really suprising, though the losers are. Brokeback Mountain ended up leaving without collecting anything except for disappointment. Especially after the winning streak they were on at the Golden Globes! The best actor once more was Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote. I still havent seen that movie and I need to. I actually havent even seen Brokeback Mountain or Walk The Line, either. I don't know I dont like Joaquin Phoenix, he appears too aggressive and unattractive, there's just this "trouble" look going with him. And after all, he did cause Maximus' death! :opp

I love GOOGLE!!! Have you tried the Google Desktop 2? It's very user friendly and very convenient to have around. I can just write up any notes or whatever on the Scratch Pad whenver I want to, without having to open up Word or something, so I dont forget what I wanted to post here.. These guys are brilliant...
It's my new favorite toy on my laptop...

By far the funniest episode in the US Justice series... :o)))
What do you mean his heart stopped? He cant die naturally!! Do CPR, bring in gazillion dollar doctors, do whatever, put him back on DEATH ROW we need to execute him!!

Two weeks already gone! I cant believe how fast time is going by...
I had a great time away, though I didnt get any studying done, or maybe because of it. :o) Im going to be sorry about it in about 10 days when we have our finals. But that's all good. I'll think about that then.


But here's something that caught my attention today. You gotta love Turkey. This is a picture from an accident that was reported in one of the major newspapers today. A guy put his car in reverse rather than drive and ended up on a balcony with his car! :o)) These kinds of "rare" accidents without anybody getting hurt only happens in Turkey...