Stanford

After DC, after New York, and after Davis, I arrived to Palo Alto, a city known for its university: Stanford. I am doing a program with the Graduate School of Business; they call it the Summer Insitute.

Stanford is rich, oh so rich. Tuition here comes to around $40,000 for a full year, and signs of this wealth are apparent. One of my professors drives a Porsche, while another advises the President on tax reform. The campus itself is a pretty thing, but not prettier than, say, the University of Western Australia. Even if not so aesthetic as UWA, Stanford spends a lot of money on its students. Dorms are luxurious compared to most other universities: mine features a bunch of grand pianos, foosball and ping pong tables, kitchens, lounges, courtyards, and even a network of catwalks. Staff is available for all our needs, be it related to computer issues, or career counseling. Food is good, some might even say tasty and healthy, a rare combination in this country.

The program itself is very well organised: we take a number of classes a day, and meet up with a small group of students later to discuss the morrow's questions. Professors believe in the socratic method; they constantly ask questions, and the class participates. Really, the program seems bent on teaching us a way of thinking rather than a set of testable material. But it is the people that make the program: the students are outstanding. I still don't know how selective this program was, since it is only the second year they ran it, but whatever they have done, they have put together a number of very diverse students. This diversity encourages challenging discussions, and at night, good times. Yesterday, I brought a bottle of wine to my study group. Soon after, I was somewhere in a bar having a great time. This morning, I was focusing very hard on strategy principles.

This program makes me think that I probably should have applied to some of the world's best schools straight out of high school. I had the marks, but not the drive or the knowledge. Not to say that I didn't meet great people in Perth and Brisbane, but that they aren't as many there as here.

I will publish some pictures when I take them. Alright, I am off to dinner.

New York City, Times Square. I was there last Thursday before I moved out of DC, across the country to California. New York is an amazing town, full of life. And the life here isn't monotonous; no, it is diverse, as diverse as I have ever seen it. But at the same time, it is very accepting. Jews are jews, Blacks are blacks, Poles are poles, Italians are italians, and they all live together, with hundreds of other groups. I only stayed briefly but it was a fascinating experience, a taste for more to come.

Times Square II.

This wheel is inside Toys 'r' Us' Times Square store. It is pretty well know around here.

This is a very typical street in New York. Unlike Australia, the CBD is gigantic, and buildings get very tall, very often.

Coming in to Central Park. The park is massive. It is lined with glass towers, sporting some very expensive real estate.

People often come to this Lake for wedding pictures

Like it?

Ok, I am looking at the wrong camera, but at least the other two are right.

A famous walk of a famous park. Americans remaining American, one of the girls I was with told me as we were walking into Central Park that this was the most famous park in the world. I made a little fun of her, but she may have been right. Anyone know a more famous park?

Fifth Avenue. The girls I went with were doing some shopping here before one of them left us. This is a touristy side of New York.

On Fifth Avenue.

This is the main train station of the city. I tried to act like I wasn't taking a photo of these four army/police guys. One of them had a german shepherd with him. Security in the US has become very important since September 11. Call it a side effect of terrorism, but the budget has become harder to balance now that security costs have risen.

A dusk landscape in a not so pleasant part of town.

I was in the upper or lower east side having a beer in a couple of places. The guy you see hosted us for the night.

In a park, waiting for the bus to Washington.

Our first broken tire for the trip back. This tire is more than just flat...

Ever seen anything this bad?

We couldn't find a spare tire already on a rim, so that guy tried to take it off. He got it off, but he couldn't get the new tire on. Eventually, we found a normal spare tire, with a rim that is store away in the front of the bus.

The second flat tire. Not a great photo, I know. But this one is pretty impressive too. Can you see that the tire has actually come off the rim?

Stranded on the side of the highway before a seedy bus driver pulled over and 'rescued' us at a nice $370 profit for him.

My last day at the National Academies. I've compiled a little series of photos depicting my stay there. Another page turned.

Boss I: Toni is a quirky woman with a great sense of humour and fountains of energy. She is the manufacturing/nanotechnology guru of the academies.

Boss II: Lynda is a charming woman who works very long hours. She is the one that insisted that the Board find money to fund my trip to Vegas.

A co-worker

Don't you wish your work here? part I -- a genius invented cubicles. Yep, he wanted to squash the human spirit, and he did. People stay in those pits for years. (I may be using biased words here)

Don't you wish you work here? part II

View from the top I: in the distance you can see the capitol. In the foreground are the courts of DC, but not the supreme court. This is the view from the verandah on the tenth floor.

View from the top II: this is looking North from the National Academies.

Lunch time at the NAS. The cafeteria sits right in the atrium, and is one of the nicest places in the building.

This is looking out through the atrium, right into the guts of the building.

The farewell dinner really took me by surprise. I hadn't really thought about leaving yet, and I hadn't realised that most of the residents of this building would be leaving at the end of May. The person with the grey shirt is Josh, one of my roommates.

This is another photo of the farewell dinner.

Brendon and Nathalie, two people I did my health policy class with.

Washington coming to an end

Yes, in eight days I will be gone. This is my last day of work. For the rest of the time, I will be going out, and writing my paper. An enjoyable time ahead.
I've taken a bunch of photos from work and from going out that I will try to post soon.

Since my last post, I've done a little bit. Last Thursday, I presented my paper to about fourty people. Most of them were students from the centre, but there was one discussant who was a former advisor to pakistani prime ministers, and a former ambassador to sri lanka. I was told that my presentation was animated. Apparenly, I grabbed the audience and didn't let go until the end. I can attest that no one seemed asleep, which was nice. I made a few jokes here and there, and got some nice comments from the discussant. After that, the following two nights were big party nights. I didn't get much sleep and had a pretty good time, from which thankfully I don't have any pictures.
On Sunday, I went sea kayaking on a river. It's called sea kayaking only because it is not whitewater kayaking. I was paddling along banks of luxuriant vegetation (surprising so close to DC), behing one of my co-workers/boss and his wife. It was a very relaxing afternoon in the country.
On Monday, a public holiday, I went to my first baseball game. Baseball is all about statistics, measures of how well players play. It is nowhere near as exciting as cricket, but it does attract big crowds. I am looking forward to the advent of 20-20 cricket: juding from its success around the world, it will increase the support base of cricket to people who have no idea what the sport looks like. Who doesn't like a bit of imaginative ball-bashing? I won't answer that question.
Monday was memorial day, and for the whole weekend TV was dedicated to waving the flag in honour of 'our lost heros'. Story after story recalled the valour of this man or this woman in their fight against terror. It was sickening. There was no mention of how many Iraqis Americans have killed, but then again, no one here wants to know that number. All that matters is the amount of precious American blood shed to protect/spread freedom. What the ignorant will buy!

Well, I have an hour and a half left here, so I'd better pack.