MBET Blog
Monday, August 30, 2004
Welcome Class of 2005
So, just in case anyone in this fall's MBET class gets bored and finds my blog, welcome members of the class of 2005. I'll see you at Howard's BBQ perhaps.
Have a look through the archives and if you all have any more questions after Ignition Week, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Enjoy every second of the program! Even the 5 seconds where you spend $1000 on textbooks after your credit card gets approved at the bookstore.
So, just in case anyone in this fall's MBET class gets bored and finds my blog, welcome members of the class of 2005. I'll see you at Howard's BBQ perhaps.
Have a look through the archives and if you all have any more questions after Ignition Week, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Enjoy every second of the program! Even the 5 seconds where you spend $1000 on textbooks after your credit card gets approved at the bookstore.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Unofficially...
Marks are in. Or out depending on your view. I still appear to be missing marks for marketing & e-commerce. But I did OK. I have an 85.625% average. I assume (hope!) my marks for the missing two courses are in that ball park so that my final average will be pretty much the same.
Relatively speaking, I think I did well, but I doubt I ended up completely at the top of the pile. I'm sure some people did better than me. I worked for it though; I feel I worked pretty hard last year and I think I got a fair mark overall.
My lowest mark was a 77% in Operations, which I'm sure pretty was near the bottom, relatively speaking. There were some issues in our practicum group which affected my mark in here. My best mark (so far) is a 93% in Tax, of all things. I always thought we should fill out returns (personal, business & SR&ED) and then send them in to the CCRA. You'd get graded on the size of your return. Of course, that might lead people into being too aggressive... like investing everything in highly risky limited partnership flow-through tax credit exploration ventures and stuff like that.
Anyway, good luck class of 2006! I'm sure you'll all put me to shame.
Marks are in. Or out depending on your view. I still appear to be missing marks for marketing & e-commerce. But I did OK. I have an 85.625% average. I assume (hope!) my marks for the missing two courses are in that ball park so that my final average will be pretty much the same.
Relatively speaking, I think I did well, but I doubt I ended up completely at the top of the pile. I'm sure some people did better than me. I worked for it though; I feel I worked pretty hard last year and I think I got a fair mark overall.
My lowest mark was a 77% in Operations, which I'm sure pretty was near the bottom, relatively speaking. There were some issues in our practicum group which affected my mark in here. My best mark (so far) is a 93% in Tax, of all things. I always thought we should fill out returns (personal, business & SR&ED) and then send them in to the CCRA. You'd get graded on the size of your return. Of course, that might lead people into being too aggressive... like investing everything in highly risky limited partnership flow-through tax credit exploration ventures and stuff like that.
Anyway, good luck class of 2006! I'm sure you'll all put me to shame.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Other Stuff
Postings are slowing now that I'm back at a real job.
One thing I've meant to write about for ages though is keeping active at school. Or at least how I kept active last term.
First, I lived somewhat far from campus. A half-hour walk. Which, twice a day, is good exercise. Especially in comparison with how much exercise I get in a typical day at work - none! I commute so it's about a 1 minute walk to the car and another 30 seconds to the office. I get more exercise in the shower. Students are all in such great shape not because they're young, it's because they're poor and walk everywhere. In the summer term I started biking to school which was quicker but I usually rode pretty hard so it was like a little sprint to get my day started.
Second, I swam. In the fall I would go do 20-40 lengths at 8 AM before classes, two or three times a week. Which was OK. It was sure hard at first. Then I signed up for the swim training class (via Campus Rec) and man, that is hard. Damn hard. Before I was swimming 30 minutes, maybe. These are full hour classes and the workouts were for more like 80-120 lengths (2-3 km). That got me in shape.
Finally I took up running. Which is odd, as I hate running. Not as in dislike it or simply attempt to avoid it - as far a physical activities go, I went out of my way to hate running. But after gettingin good swimming shape and having taken a few good bike rides I though "maybe I could do a triathalon some day..." and so I decided I should run too. And to my surprise, I find I kind of like it. The main thing is that it takes me a long time to warm up. I don't start feeling comfortable running until over 20 minutes into it. Maybe I'm still just out of shape. But I can run 5k and feel pretty good so I'm going to keep it up. My little sister did a triathalon for the first time justa few weeks ago, so if someone as out of shape as her can do it, so can I. (just kidding Meams!)
Going back to school for a year changed my outlook on a lot of things, but one of the best things it did was get me back in shape!
Postings are slowing now that I'm back at a real job.
One thing I've meant to write about for ages though is keeping active at school. Or at least how I kept active last term.
First, I lived somewhat far from campus. A half-hour walk. Which, twice a day, is good exercise. Especially in comparison with how much exercise I get in a typical day at work - none! I commute so it's about a 1 minute walk to the car and another 30 seconds to the office. I get more exercise in the shower. Students are all in such great shape not because they're young, it's because they're poor and walk everywhere. In the summer term I started biking to school which was quicker but I usually rode pretty hard so it was like a little sprint to get my day started.
Second, I swam. In the fall I would go do 20-40 lengths at 8 AM before classes, two or three times a week. Which was OK. It was sure hard at first. Then I signed up for the swim training class (via Campus Rec) and man, that is hard. Damn hard. Before I was swimming 30 minutes, maybe. These are full hour classes and the workouts were for more like 80-120 lengths (2-3 km). That got me in shape.
Finally I took up running. Which is odd, as I hate running. Not as in dislike it or simply attempt to avoid it - as far a physical activities go, I went out of my way to hate running. But after gettingin good swimming shape and having taken a few good bike rides I though "maybe I could do a triathalon some day..." and so I decided I should run too. And to my surprise, I find I kind of like it. The main thing is that it takes me a long time to warm up. I don't start feeling comfortable running until over 20 minutes into it. Maybe I'm still just out of shape. But I can run 5k and feel pretty good so I'm going to keep it up. My little sister did a triathalon for the first time justa few weeks ago, so if someone as out of shape as her can do it, so can I. (just kidding Meams!)
Going back to school for a year changed my outlook on a lot of things, but one of the best things it did was get me back in shape!
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Ego Trip
create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide
Lots of fun.... all the places I've been. Unfortunately Taiwan shows up too small to see and I apparently missed something up there in northern Europe.
create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Practicum
Tim emailed me to ask some questions about the practicum element of the MBET program. Tim should be starting MBET this fall - congratulations on getting in, Tim.
First of all, like all things in school, CBET doesn't just leaving you hanging. The faculty (specifically Doug Sparkes) have already secured projects with existing, local companies for MBET student practica. You're expected to do one of these projects (which are pretty open ended). OR... or you're expected to start your own business of some sort. A lot of people did this last year. Konrad worked on a business selling a custom software package to a very specifc market, Al-Amin and a bunch of people started SynVier and Prem continued working on Tangam which he had started before starting MBET. They brought other people onto their teams - some have continued working for those businesses even after the program ended, for others the practicum was just another project. The practicum runs all year long.
Some examples of practicum projects with external companies were people who worked with Mechworks Systems, Peartree Software, and a couple other companies (that I forget!).
So, do you have to write letters? No. Does the school already have contacts? Yes. What suggestions and opinions do I have for you? Well...
Make sure that your team runs smoothly. Make sure everyone is working towards the same goals. If there seems to be a lack of leadership, take the reins! Now is your time to work on being a leader. This is what MBET is all about. If you're really stuck or if you just can't get a handle on what's going wrong with your team, talk to Doug about it. Meet regularly & frequently. Expect to spend 5 or more hours a week on the practicum. It will be difficult to make this kind of time commitment, but that's what it will take. We had Fridays open nearly every week, so use this time to your advantage.
Finally, you will get out of the practicum what you put into it. The people who had awesome practicum experiences this past year really poured themselves into it. The people who had mediocre practium projects were the ones who weren't as commited to it. And maybe the practicum isn't really what you came to MBET for - I don't think I got much out of it, but I never expected to and I never really tried very hard at making it a real central element of my year. I focussed on other things. See how the practicum fits into your overall goals for the MBET program.
I hope that helps.
Tim emailed me to ask some questions about the practicum element of the MBET program. Tim should be starting MBET this fall - congratulations on getting in, Tim.
I want to use the practicum to build some contacts into companies already established.So I don't know if it makes sense to answer the questions directly as my answers don't really line up with your questions.
How would the process work for me (time to start, end, schedule)?
Should I start writing letter of interests to the companies?
Does the school already have some contact?
In terms of prospects, what suggestions, opinions, ideas, might you have for me?
First of all, like all things in school, CBET doesn't just leaving you hanging. The faculty (specifically Doug Sparkes) have already secured projects with existing, local companies for MBET student practica. You're expected to do one of these projects (which are pretty open ended). OR... or you're expected to start your own business of some sort. A lot of people did this last year. Konrad worked on a business selling a custom software package to a very specifc market, Al-Amin and a bunch of people started SynVier and Prem continued working on Tangam which he had started before starting MBET. They brought other people onto their teams - some have continued working for those businesses even after the program ended, for others the practicum was just another project. The practicum runs all year long.
Some examples of practicum projects with external companies were people who worked with Mechworks Systems, Peartree Software, and a couple other companies (that I forget!).
So, do you have to write letters? No. Does the school already have contacts? Yes. What suggestions and opinions do I have for you? Well...
Make sure that your team runs smoothly. Make sure everyone is working towards the same goals. If there seems to be a lack of leadership, take the reins! Now is your time to work on being a leader. This is what MBET is all about. If you're really stuck or if you just can't get a handle on what's going wrong with your team, talk to Doug about it. Meet regularly & frequently. Expect to spend 5 or more hours a week on the practicum. It will be difficult to make this kind of time commitment, but that's what it will take. We had Fridays open nearly every week, so use this time to your advantage.
Finally, you will get out of the practicum what you put into it. The people who had awesome practicum experiences this past year really poured themselves into it. The people who had mediocre practium projects were the ones who weren't as commited to it. And maybe the practicum isn't really what you came to MBET for - I don't think I got much out of it, but I never expected to and I never really tried very hard at making it a real central element of my year. I focussed on other things. See how the practicum fits into your overall goals for the MBET program.
I hope that helps.
Resumes
If you haven't seen them, some of the MBET students have their resumes on the CBET site now. Add an innovator to your organization! My resume is there, for better or worse. I have a job, but hey - don't let that stop you from offering me another one! I'm also available for reality TV series appearances. For people looking to hire some smart people, stop by and have a look. For prospective students, this will give you a bit of an idea of who has already been through the program.
If you haven't seen them, some of the MBET students have their resumes on the CBET site now. Add an innovator to your organization! My resume is there, for better or worse. I have a job, but hey - don't let that stop you from offering me another one! I'm also available for reality TV series appearances. For people looking to hire some smart people, stop by and have a look. For prospective students, this will give you a bit of an idea of who has already been through the program.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Apparently I wasted the last year
Because if I could have gotten the same entrepreneurial education in grade school. The Girl's Middle School (somewhere in Silicon Valley) runs a full entrepreneurship program for seventh-grade girls. Cool.
Because if I could have gotten the same entrepreneurial education in grade school. The Girl's Middle School (somewhere in Silicon Valley) runs a full entrepreneurship program for seventh-grade girls. Cool.
Saturday, August 07, 2004
